Downloads and down low were fit to be featured this past week. Let's take a closer look.
As good as it gets for Sam Walton
When Wal-Mart
Something pretty neat has happened over the years. The stock has gone nowhere for five years, yet the earnings continue to inch higher. It's not usually by much. Here in 2006, the company is looking to grow earnings by no more than 10%. Yet as the stock has marched in place (and it's actually trading a few bucks lower than where it was five years ago), the value proposition has improved.
Sure, investors were nuts for paying 30-35 times earnings for Wal-Mart as the millennium turned. Wal-Mart wasn't growing that quickly at the time. This is Wal-Mart that we're talking about, folks. Yet now that the stock can be had for 17 times trailing earnings and less than 16 times forward profitability, maybe it's time to give the company that Sam Walton built another look.
The company doesn't plan on being boring forever. The company is attempting to ape Target
Yes, I think Wal-Mart can dictate fashion trends through its sheer volume. It's why I'm finally starting to look at the stock. That's something that I never thought I would hear myself say back in the1990s, when the shares seemed just too pricey for a discount department store chain that traded personality for performance.
Be a musical billionaire
Eight coworkers at a meatpacking plant may have struck it rich in the lottery this week, but Apple Computer
Yes, Apple is bestowing the lucky downloading patron with some cool prizes. We're talking a snazzy Mac, a few iPods, and a ton of money to spend at the iTunes store for winner Alex Ostrovsky. It's a fair trade, though, because we all know now that Alex is a fan of Coldplay.
Just kidding there, Coldplay fans. X&Y is a great album and "Fix You" is a masterpiece. I'm thinking this was all rigged, though. What did the lead singer of Coldplay name his daughter?
"Apple."
I smell a conspiracy.
Until next week, I remain,
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz loves to look back, even if it means he falls on his face going forward. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. The Foo l has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.