This week on Wall Street saw the world's largest retailer continue a
years-long struggle and one of the world's biggest names in aerospace in
defense rewrite the history books. Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT ) watched its
third-quarter profits slip to $3.34 billion compared to $3.44 billion in 2010,
dampening what could have been a cheerful earnings report Tuesday that included
the company's first period of increasing U.S. same-store sales in 10 quarters.
The report sent WMT stock down 2.5% of the day, and Wal-Mart limped out down
3.3% on the week at $57.22. The retailer has struggled for years despite the
seeming appeal of its lauded deep discounts in a down economy however,
lower-cost companies like Dollar General (NYSE: DG ) and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:
DLTR ) have continued to cut into Wal-Mart's market with great bargains, as
has warehouse giant Costco (NASDAQ: COST ). Also problematic for Wal-Mart on the
other side of the price line is more trendy retailer Target (NYSE: TGT ). The
country's No. 2 retailer took the spotlight from WMT with its third-quarter
earnings report, which had the company beating analyst estimates with profits of
$555 million, up from $535 million a year ago. Target got a momentary boost on
the news but finished the week flat at around $53. Target recently has gone on
the aggressive, teaming up with credit card company American Express (NYSE: AXP
) in offering prepaid debit cards a direct answer to the Green Dot-powered Visa
(NYSE: V ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) cards that can be found in Walmart stores.
Still, Wal-Mart remains the stronger competitor , with its prices offering
consumers much more protection against
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