By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – Maybe it was the cry for peace heard everywhere on the planet this weekend. Maybe it was the snow on the East Coast that took focus away from the possibility of war. Drums can barely be heard over a snowplow. Whatever, the market is positive today continuing the momentum of last week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
Wal-Mart, the king of retail, reported its fourth quarter earnings were up 16% from the same time last year. The net income of $2.5 billion, or 57 cents a share, even beat analysts' expectations by a penny. So why's the stock flat today? Analysts were expecting revenues to be a tad higher than the 11% increase from last year. Also, the Street always expects Wal-Mart to beat expectations. A penny's nothing. Sounds like a child of overachieving parents. Oh, and be prepared. Wal-Mart plans on gracing our landscape with yet another 230 Superstores this year. I bet half of those will be in North Texas.
Humor me here because I need to digress. Fortune Magazine just released its list of the "100 Most Admired Companies in America," and guess who's now number one? That's right - Wal-Mart. This will be the first time in 5 years that General Electric is not wearing the crown. GE got bumped to fifth. Fortune polls analysts, executives and directors with about 8 different criteria. Here's a quick run down of the top ten. You know who's number one. Our very own Southwest Airlines is two. Then Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, Austin-based Dell Computer, GE, Johnson and Johnson, Microsoft, Fed-Ex, Starbucks, and Proctor and Gamble. A new ad for all these companies is now a given, except Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. He doesn't need to advertise.
Back to the market. Reuters, the source for any good financial news, had to report some bad news of its own. For the first time since going public in 1984, the British-based financial news service announced a yearly net loss. The rest of the market remains strong. For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.