PDF The Economist Investment Case Study Competition 2015
THE ECONOMIST INVESTMENT CASE STUDY COMPETITION 2015
Amazon vs Walmart
Team: InvesGo
Emory University Goizueta Business School Arjun Agarwala (Class of 2016) Vibhu Katiyar (Class of 2016) Rohan Singh (Class of 2016)
Goizueta Business School
Table of Contents
1. ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................ 3 2. BUSINESS MODELS ............................................................................................................................ 4
2.1. Walmart ............................................................................................................................................ 4 2.2. Amazon ............................................................................................................................................ 4 3. THE ULTIMATE RETAIL WAR.......................................................................................................... 5 3.1. Why Walmart Stock is Attractive .................................................................................................... 5 3.2. Elusive Profitability Remains a Concern for Amazon ..................................................................... 6 3.3. Future of Retail Industry ? Who is Better Prepared? ....................................................................... 7 4. WALMART: FINANCIALS AND COMPARABLES.......................................................................... 9 4.1. Relative Pricing .............................................................................................................................. 10 4.2. Profit Margins ................................................................................................................................ 11 4.3. Performance and Coverage Ratios ................................................................................................. 11 4.4. Share Repurchase ........................................................................................................................... 12 4.5. Earnings and Dividend Projections ................................................................................................ 13 4.6. Stock Valuation .............................................................................................................................. 14 5. INVESTMENT STRATEGY ............................................................................................................... 14 6. RISK CONSIDERATIONS.................................................................................................................. 15 7. APPENDIX........................................................................................................................................... 16 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 19
The Economist Investment Case Study Competition 2015
2
Goizueta Business School
1. ABSTRACT Over a 10-year investment horizon, Walmart stocks will provide greater value than Amazon through consistent dividend payouts and steady share price appreciation, leveraging the company's existing retail model and renewed focus towards e-commerce.
Walmart has a 40-year history of increasing dividend payouts with a dividend yield of 3.03% at the current price. Walmart's P/E ratio, currently at 12.27, is extremely attractive and has ranged between 13.3 and 18.2 for the past decade. This signals that Walmart is currently selling at an `everyday low price', which we believe is a reasonable entry point for long-term investors.
A reasonable entry point, however, does not eliminate a possible volatility in stock prices in the shortterm. Walmart's plan to invest $2.5B in employees and $2B in e-commerce over the next two years will negatively impact earnings. Earnings will also be impacted by capital expenditures of over $23B for store improvements. However, post 2018, these investments are estimated to yield significant returns and enable the firm to reward investors. Walmart possesses the necessary infrastructure, capital, customer reach, buyer's power, and a focused management team to evolve and expand the firm into a model that combines brick-and-mortar stores with a robust e-commerce platform. Walmart's scale and price competitiveness will further ease the firm's transition into this omni-channel model.
Amazon's story has been one of unparalleled success, with the firm going from strength-to-strength over the past two decades. Its current ace-in-the-hole, Amazon Web Services, is estimated to grow from $7B today to $46B by 2020 [1]. However, despite the firm's impressive growth over the past few years, investment plans in international markets, and expansion of offerings by launching services such as Prime Now and Logistics, its bottom-line has never been an attractive proposition from an investment perspective. Amazon's belief in "failing fast" has driven investment in several products and services, such as the Fire Phone and Amazon Destinations, which have not yielded expected returns. The launch
The Economist Investment Case Study Competition 2015
3
Goizueta Business School
of programs such as Prime Now, where the firm may not earn any returns in the near future, further reduces the viability of Amazon as a 10-year investment opportunity.
2. BUSINESS MODELS 2.1. Walmart Walmart is a discount retailing company that operates retail stores, supercenters, warehouse clubs, Sam's club, and websites ? and . It has over 11,400 retail units in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. It operates as Walmart in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Walmex in Mexico, Asda in the UK, Seiyu in Japan and Best Price in India. [2]
Walmart, the world's largest retailer and employer, has taken over half a century to become the largest company in the world based on almost half a trillion dollars in revenues. Over the decades, Walmart has consistently outperformed other retailers in both profitability and growth. It has been able to generate consistent profits and pay increasing dividends through efficiency in purchasing, distribution and store operations.
Doug McMillon, current President and CEO of Walmart, leads a strong management team to deliver Walmart's mission of "saving people money so they can live better." Under his leadership, Walmart is bringing together its stores, logistics network and e-commerce capabilities to empower customers to shop "whenever, wherever and however" they want. [3]
2.2. Amazon Amazon is the world's largest online retailer, with extensive operations in North America and is now increasing global presence. The marketplace includes websites such as , amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.co.jp and amazon.in. [4]
The Economist Investment Case Study Competition 2015
4
Goizueta Business School
Amazon started as an online book retailer but rapidly diversified into a host of other product categories. Today its business model has several moving parts. It maintains inventory and sells products with a mark-up directly through its online store and also provides a platform to third-party retailers while charging a small commission. Additionally, Amazon offers a subscription based model through its Prime service as well as a small electronics product line. Finally, Amazon provides cloud infrastructure to enterprise customers through Amazon Web Services. The firm has expanded its Prime offerings to include content such as music, videos and web series, while also investing in Amazon Logistics, a division aiming to reduce its dependence on UPS and FedEx.
Jeff Bezos founded in 1994 and is the CEO and Chairman of the Board. The company's mission is "to be the Earth's most customer-centric company." Since going public in 1997, Bezos has believed that if Amazon grows revenues, the stock will take care of itself. [5]
3. THE ULTIMATE RETAIL WAR 3.1. Why Walmart Stock is Attractive The current dilemma faced by investors about Walmart is due to a short-term focus on the firm's ability to generate profits and adapt in a changing retail environment. The recently issued negative guidance by Walmart highlighted low revenue growth, higher operating costs and increasing capital expenditures. A $1 increase in the firm's minimum wage in July and an expected additional $1 increase, which would bring minimum wages to $10 in February 2016, will increase expenses by $1.2B and $1.5B in FY2016 and FY2017, respectively. In addition to capital expenditures of $23.4B to improve stores, the firm plans a $2B investment in e-commerce over the next two years. The guidance led to widespread disappointment among investors. Skeptical about Walmart's future as a low-cost brick-and-mortar retailer, investors reacted by selling their positions causing the stock to lose 40% of its value over the past year. Despite this, Walmart's strong fundamentals and balance sheet, coupled with a long-term
The Economist Investment Case Study Competition 2015
5
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
- pdf aaaaiwao18
- pdf ups helps retailer perfectly basics open new frontiers in the
- pdf online cpg industry report
- pdf securities exchange act of 1934 sections 3 a lo
- pdf the economist investment case study competition 2015
- pdf walmart vs amazon
- pdf selling shares in your fidelity account
- pdf food allergy advances in prevention and treatment
- pdf fast retailing greenpeace detox solution commitment in line
- pdf 2 2 solving one step equations waynesville
Related searches
- the economist magazine website
- the economist pdf download
- the economist free download
- read the economist online free
- the economist digital edition
- the economist magazine
- the economist subscription
- the economist log in
- the economist digital app
- the economist app download
- the economist app fire
- download the economist app