Walmart 2004 Annual Report Download - page 16

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14
As a longtime Wall Street analyst, Maggie Gilliam has
followed Wal-Mart since 1982, just two years after the
Company reached $1 billion in sales.
At that time, most of the world was skeptical about
Wal-Mart’s future.The majority held that Wal-Mart had
saturated its market in the rural South and had no place
to grow. But Gilliam saw things differently. She believed
Wal-Mart was the best-managed company she had ever
encountered in nearly 20 years on Wall Street.
In his book, Made in America, Sam Walton quoted Gilliam
as saying she thought she would never find a company
that would surpass Wal-Mart’s
strength. “Today, 22 years later, I will
stand behind that statement,”
says Gilliam.
Over its history,Wal-Mart has been a
strong investment for Shareholders.
The Company made its initial public
offering in October 1970, selling
200,000 shares for $16.50 per share. If
an investor had purchased 100 shares
in the initial offering, those shares
would have been worth more than
$11 million as of
Jan. 31, 2004, and
the number of
shares owned by
that investor
would have
grown to
204,800, thanks to 11 stock splits.
From the beginning,Wal-Mart has created tremendous
Shareholder value.The Company raised $3.3 million in
its initial public-equity offering. As of Jan. 31, 2004, the
Company had grown to a market capitalization of nearly
$240 billion.
The Company began paying dividends in 1974 and has
increased the annual dividend payment every year since
then, paying out more than $10 billion to Shareholders.
This year, the board increased the annual dividend
payment by 44 percent.
Additionally,Wal-Mart has a share-repurchase program
that has enhanced earnings per share for owners of its
outstanding common stock. Since beginning the
program,Wal-Mart has repurchased more than $13 billion
in shares, and in early 2004, Wal-Mart’s Board of Directors
authorized the repurchase of another $7 billion.
Despite the Company’s strong history of growth, investors
and Shareholders still ask if Wal-Mart can move far
beyond its $256 billion in annual sales.This year,
Wal-Mart plans to add more than 250 new stores with
more than 50 million square feet of new retail space, and
Associates will work diligently to ensure that these stores
are successful.
Wal-Mart will continue to focus on lowering the cost
of living for its Customers and creating value for its
Shareholders, a formula that has rewarded investors since
its initial public offering in 1970.
Good Investment
Fort Collins, Colorado
Las Cruces, New Mexico