Aiming For Higher Profits & Better Image

Article Excerpt

WAL-MART STORES INC. $50 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; WSSF Rating: Above average) plans to work with its over 60,000 suppliers to reduce overall packaging by 5%. The company feels that less packaging should please environmentalists, and save it $3.4 billion over five years, starting in 2008. That’s equal to 60% of the $5.65 billion or $1.35 a share that it earned in the six months ended July 31, 2006. The company also plans to cut the price it charges for generic brand prescription drugs by up to 90%. It hopes this will help attract more customers to its stores, and improve its public image with anti-poverty activists. Wal-Mart is a buy. buy…