Walmart (NYSE:WMT)

Walmart is an American company, world leader in mass distribution, founded in 1962. It began to internationalize in 1991, in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe and Asia. In 2009, with sales of 404.16 billion USD and 14.335 billion dollars in profits, Walmart took the place of second largest company in the world in terms of turnover. With 1.9 million employees working in more than 6,100 points of sale, the group can claim the title of the largest company in the world. It is the largest private employer in the United States with 1.2 million employees, but also in Mexico under the Walmex brand. Walmart is the largest general retailer in the United States with 3,500 stores and an estimated 20,130 million market share, and the largest toy retailer with an estimated 45,130 million market share, having overtaken Toys "R" Us in the late 1990s. (Source Wikipedia)

WMT has the qualities of both value stocks and growth stocks, and in this sense it reminds us a little of Coca-Cola. The dividend fundamentals are surprisingly close between the two companies. Wal-Mart thus offers a long-term yield of 2.14%, slightly less than KO, but which it compensates for with higher and attractive growth, at 12.28%. Its dividend growth history is appreciable since WMT has been able to increase its distributions for 35 consecutive years. Just like Coca-Cola, the distribution rate is maintained at a particularly low and interesting level, at 28.55%, which gives the company a comfortable margin in the event of a difficult passage and allows it to envisage appreciable growth in distributions for several more years. But the most remarkable quality of Wal-Mart is its volatility in CHF, which is only 6.53% ! With figures like these we are closer to the risk of investing in bonds than in shares...

The analogy with KO does not end there, since WMT also experienced a monstrous progression of its price between 1980 and 2000 (+60,000%!), then "calmed down" during the decade 2000-2010. In comparison, the S&P 500 seems to have almost stood still...

Again, as with KO, this "flat" decade has allowed a significant lowering of the price/earnings ratio, from 75 in 1999 to less than 12 currently. We are now in valuations that we have not seen since the beginning of the 80s, before the period of strong price growth, just like Coca-Cola. In addition, Wal-Mart still has strong growth potential in emerging markets, particularly in China.

In view of these various considerations, Wal-Mart obviously constitutes a buying opportunity to this day.