Did anyone forget Walmart?

[sportsmadness80]

I dont know about anyone else but I stumbled across Walmart expansions in Mexico, China and Brazil. Just think about those potential markets. In Mexico I have found stock WMMVF @ $2.72. If you go on the site that shows Mexico's business with Walmart, the potential seems huge. With the superstores, resteraunts, Sams club type stores I think future splits and profits are in the future. 8)

[rayk]

Does anyone own this stock?

[liroff]

On its face, Wal-Mart expanding into huge markets like Brazil, Mexico, and China sounds like a win-win situation for the company. However, one thing to consider: any expansion into these markets would most definitely shrink the company's margins. Wal-Mart made its name--and its fortune--by bringing rock-bottom prices to the American consumer, and it did so by taking advantage of the rock-bottom production costs available in countries like Brazil, Mexico, and China! These low costs are what gave Wal-Mart its competitive advantage; they are what made Wal-Mart Wal-Mart! Without the relatively low costs, Wal-Mart is no more than a glorified supermarket. A Wal-Mart store in China has no real competitive advantage over any other bargain-bin supermarket-type discount house in China, where prices are already rock-bottom low no matter where you go. So, while expansion into these other countries makes for a great-sounding national-to-international retail expansion story, whether it has a significant effect on the company's bottom line remains to be seen. Moreover, if these Brazil-Mexico-China Wal-Marts are not part of the U.S. Wal-Mart parent company but in fact separate companies, their stocks become even less attractive because they do not have the same competitive low-cost advantage that the "real" Wal-Mart has.

Just something to consider!

Best,

Alexander Liroff
iBeatTheStreet.com (http://www.iBeatTheStreet.com)

[madcowdisease]

You must also consider the political backdrop in much of Latin America. There is a undeniable shift left and more than half of the countries have elections pending in 2006. Most of these countries show their leftist candidates with a lead. If you think there is a backlash in America as to how Wal-Mart treats their employees wait 'til they set up shop in a quasi-socialist country. Gut feeling tells me the populace boycotts them even opening a store.