Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, October 16, 2015

Article Excerpt

WAL-MART STORES INC., $58.87, New York symbol WMT, fell 11% this week after warning that higher employee wages, new investments in its online businesses and the negative impact of the high U.S. dollar will slow its earnings growth. The company earned $4.84 a share in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended January 31, 2015, but it expects its profits to dip to between $4.40 and $4.70 a share in fiscal 2016. It also forecasts a further 6% to 12% decline in 2017. That’s much worse than the consensus prediction of a 4% gain. However, Wal-Mart feels its expanded online presence and higher efficiency will increase its earnings per share in 2018 and 2019. The company also announced a plan to buy back $20 billion worth of its shares over the next two years; that’s equal to 11% of its $190.2-billion market cap. Share buybacks raise earnings per share and other per-share calculations and give the remaining investors a larger stake in the company. Wal-Mart…