Walmart Inc (WMT)

Although classified as in the retail sector, it is more of a staple rather than a discretionary. Chart shows an upward trend line from late 2011 with a little bit of support at around $77. If you own, watch for it breaking through the $72-$73 level. If it breaks through that and start to underperform the market, that’s when you need to exit your position.

This is a great snapshot of what is going on with the US consumer. Has been a great stock for the last couple of years but more recently has shown some signs of weakness. He sees longer-term threats from Amazon. Wal-Mart is responding with things like growing a number of stores but shrinking the number of employees. This is starting to impact the service.

This is a stock that could probably go on forever and based on a good valuation, one that you could buy and hold. The time to buy it was when there were the headlines of the Mexican bribery scandal. At the current price, its okay, not expensive at 14X earnings, growing dividends and buying back shares but he is finding better ideas in this space.

(Market Call Minute.) Very competitive area. She would prefer Target (TGT-N).

Long-term fundamentals shape up very, very well. A retail that continues to be able to grow itself, introducing product lines at lower pricing given their ability to buy in massive bulk amounts. Recently have been going after Dollar Store type of channels by introducing $1, $2, $3 items.

100 million people walk through their stores every single week. 30% of their revenues come from international components. 10% earnings growth rate. Yield of 2.57%.

Has never been a strong supporter of this company, but over time it just continues to surge and to do well. Has had a bit of a hiccup lately, partly because of the payroll tax holiday that has expired which affects the lower income areas of society.

You could put your grandmother into it. They are now an operating company and not a growth story and finally realized it. Buying back shares, increasing divided. Domination in retail and shareholder friendliness make them attractive.

Leaked documents spooked investors. Investors may not treat this stock well moving forward. If the support level about $68 is held then he could be a buyer.

Stock prices still above or around the 200 day moving average. If looking for low beta stock at 0.6 versus the S&P and a long-term growth rate of 10% with one of the best brands out there, this is a good stock. 2.3% dividend will probably grow by 8%-9% per year over the next 3 years.

Over the years, this has been a fabulous company. The biggest problem for them has been the Dollar stores both in Canada and the US. If, as an investor, you want to play the lower end of retailing, this company is fine.

Probably a little bit overbought at this time so he would wait for a better entry point such as $70-$71.