Bill Dreher
Bill Dreher
concerned economy investors stock weaker
The stock is manipulated by perceptions of the future, and investors are very concerned right now that the economy is weaker than we thought. Wal-Mart is doing a superb job. On other the hand, the stock is vulnerable.
appears beginning christmas clearly concerned consumer extremely holiday impact scale type
The announcement by Neiman Marcus...makes us as concerned as we have ever been that this Christmas will be extremely lackluster. It appears now the high-end consumer is beginning to scale back their purchases, which does not bode well for the holiday season. This type of thing is clearly going to have an impact on other high-end retailers.
comfort concern game greatest high level plan risk
While integration risk is always the greatest concern with mergers, we have a high comfort level that the (Federated) game plan is achievable.
concern consumer gasoline hurting inflation last months several
There has been real concern for the last several months about hurricanes, about consumer sentiment, about gasoline inflation hurting consumer spending,
ability analyze concerned customer generate good guys predict sales superior visibility
Even Wal-Mart, with their superior systems, their ability to analyze information, being able to predict sales down to the SKU and generate customer profiles, doesn't have good visibility of what's going on in 2001, which makes us concerned about the guys who don't have that ability,
bigger company concerns consumers example gas heart local solution station trying
Is all this a solution for the bigger concerns of the American consumers or the local gas station owner? No. But it is an example of the company trying to show its heart in the right place.
began concerned investor sponsored woo
Historically, Wal-Mart has only been concerned about the consumer. But 12 years ago, Wal-Mart began to woo the investor and sponsored fieldtrips to their headquarters. These were tremendously successful,
considered far financial impact item limited
It would be considered a non-operating item and really will have a very limited financial impact as far as analysts are concerned,
accept annual clear closer deep false management meeting might sober though willing work
It was very clear to us that ... this year's annual meeting had a new, more sober tone. In the past, (Wal-Mart management) was willing to accept their shortcomings, though some might say it was closer to false modesty. This year, it was very clear that management realizes they have a lot of work to do and are deep into the transition.
appears form holiday season
The shopper appears to be in mid-season form with the holiday season just having started.
admittedly admitting cloudy critical holiday investors might second though visibility
They are admitting they have very cloudy visibility on the very critical holiday season. What might be more significant to investors is that even though they had an admittedly superb second quarter, where are we going from here?
buying christmas circle clearly confidence consumer decadent depress depressing four generous gift giving hog holiday issues levels numbers people presents question return shows spending three wide year
The same issues which are depressing the consumer confidence numbers are going to depress holiday sales, ... Christmas is going to show up this year as it shows up every year. The question is, how generous are people going to be? Are they going to go whole hog and return to the decadent spending levels of three or four years ago? No, clearly not. People are going to be buying toys, but how many presents they buy, how wide that circle of gift giving is really is in question.
chains department discount line mostly results sales
The sales results from the department and discount chains were mostly in line with expectations.
absorb definitely others period position retailers though tough
Even though Wal-Mart is definitely in a better position than most retailers to absorb any shortfalls, others could be in for a very tough period ahead.