Walmart taps India’s e-commerce

Article Excerpt

WALMART INC. $96 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.0 billion; Market cap: $288.0 billion; Dividend yield: 2.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.walmart.com) increased its quarterly dividend by 2.0% with the April 2018 payment. Investors now receive to $0.52 a share, up from $0.51. The annual rate of $2.08 yields 2.2%. The company has now completed its purchase of 77% of Flipkart Group for $16 billion. That privately held firm is a leading online retailer in India, with annual sales of $4.5 billion. The purchase will reduce Walmart’s earnings in the fiscal year ending January 31, 2019, by $0.25 to $0.30 a share (excluding that charge, it expects to earn between $4.90 and $5.05 a share). However, Flipkart will help Walmart profit as more people in India buy goods online. Its expertise will also improve Walmart’s other e-commerce operations. Walmart is a buy. buy…