Walmart 2014 Annual Report Download - page 37

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Walmart 2014 Annual Report 35
fuel, gasoline, natural gas and electricity, the selling prices of fuel, the cost
of healthcare and other benets, accident costs, our casualty and other
insurance costs, information security costs, the cost of construction
materials, availability and the cost of acceptable building sites for new
stores, clubs and other units, availability of qualied labor pools in the
specic markets in which we operate, including the availability of persons
with the skills and abilities necessary to meet Walmart’s needs for
managing and stang its new units and conducting their operations,
real estate, zoning, land use and other laws, ordinances, legal restrictions
and initiatives that may prevent Walmart from building, or that impose
limitations on Walmart’s ability to build, new units in certain locations
or relocate or expand existing units, availability of necessary utilities for
new units; availability of skilled labor and labor, material and other
construction costs in areas in which new or relocated units are proposed
to be constructed or existing units are proposed to be expanded or
remodeled, competitive pressures and the initiatives of our competitors,
accident-related costs, weather conditions patterns and events, climate
change, catastrophic events and natural disasters, as well as storm and
other damage to our stores, clubs, distribution centers and other facilities
and store closings and other limitations on our customers’ access to our
stores and clubs resulting from such events and disasters, disruption in
the availability of our online shopping sites on the internet, cyberattacks
on our information systems, disruption in our supply chain, including
availability and transport of goods from domestic and foreign suppliers,
trade restrictions, changes in tari and freight rates, adoption of or
changes in tax, labor and other laws and regulations that aect our
business, including changes in corporate and personal tax rates and the
imposition of new taxes and surcharges, costs of compliance with laws and
regulations, the mix of our earnings from our United States and foreign
operations, changes in our assessment of certain tax contingencies,
increases or decreases in valuation allowances, outcome of administrative
audits, the impact of discrete items on our eective tax rate, the resolution
of other tax matters, developments in and the outcome of legal and
regulatory proceedings to which we are a party or are subject and the
expenses associated therewith, the requirements for expenditures in
connection with the FCPA-related matters, including enhancements to
Walmart’s compliance program and ongoing investigations, changes in
the rating of any of our indebtedness; currency exchange rate uctuations
and volatility, uctuations in market rates of interest, and other conditions
and events aecting domestic and global nancial and capital markets,
public health emergencies, economic and geo-political conditions and
events, including civil unrest and disturbances and terrorist attacks,
unanticipated changes in generally accepted accounting principles or in
the interpretations or applicability thereof, unanticipated changes in
accounting estimates and judgments, and unanticipated restructurings
and the related expenses. Moreover, we typically earn a disproportionate
part of our annual operating income in the fourth quarter as a result
of the seasonal buying patterns. Those buying patterns are dicult to
forecast with certainty.
The foregoing list of factors that may aect our business operations and
nancial performance is not exclusive. Other factors and unanticipated
events could adversely aect our business operations and nancial
performance. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as
certain risk factors that may aect our business operations, nancial
condition, results of operations and liquidity in other of our lings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our
Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
We led our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the scal year ended
January 31, 2014, with the SEC on March 21, 2014. The forward-looking
statements described above are made based on knowledge of our
business and the environment in which we operate and assumptions
that we believe to be reasonable at the time such forward-looking
statements are made. However, because of the factors described and
listed above, as well as other factors, or as a result of changes in facts,
assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, actual results
may materially dier from anticipated results described or implied in
these forward-looking statements. We cannot assure the reader that the
results or developments expected or anticipated by us will be realized
or, even if substantially realized, that those results or developments will
result in the expected consequences for us or aect us, our business or
our operations in the way we expect. You are urged to consider all of
these risks, uncertainties and other factors carefully in evaluating the
forward-looking statements and not to place undue reliance on such
forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included
in this Annual Report speak only as of the date of this report, and we
undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to
reect subsequent events or circumstances, except as may be required
by applicable law.