Walmart 2016 Annual Report Download - page 36

2016 Annual Report34
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations
• costs of transportation and other essential services, such as medical
care;
• casualty- and accident-related costs and our casualty and other
insurance costs;
• cyberattacks on and incidents relating to our information systems,
related costs and liabilities and information security costs;
• availability and cost of acceptable building sites and necessary utilities
for new and relocated units;
• availability and cost of skilled construction labor and materials and
other construction costs;
• availability of qualified labor pools for existing, new or expanded units
and to meet seasonal hiring needs;
• real estate, zoning, land use and other laws, ordinances, legal restrictions
and initiatives affecting our ability to build new units in certain locations
or relocate or expand existing units;
• weather conditions, patterns and events, climate change, catastrophic
events and disasters, public health emergencies, civil disturbances and
terrorist attacks, resulting damage to our units and store and club closings
and limitations on our customers’ access to our stores and clubs resulting
from such events;
• disruptions in the availability of our e-commerce websites and mobile
commerce applications;
• trade restrictions, changes in tariff and freight rates and disruptions in
our supply chain;
• costs of compliance with laws and regulations and effects of new or
changed tax, labor and other laws and regulations, including those
changing tax rates and imposing new taxes and surcharges;
• changes in our assessment of certain tax contingencies, changes in
valuation allowances, outcome of administrative audits, impact of
discrete items on our effective tax rate and resolution of tax matters;
• developments in and the outcome of our legal and regulatory proceedings
and our FCPA-related matters, and associated costs and expenses;
• changes in the rating of any of our indebtedness and our access to the
capital markets; and
• unanticipated changes in generally accepted accounting principles
or their interpretations or applicability and in accounting estimates
and judgments.
We typically earn a disproportionate part of our annual operating income
in the fourth quarter as a result of seasonal buying patterns, which patterns
are difficult to forecast with certainty and can be affected by many factors.
Other Risk Factors; No Duty to Update
We discuss certain of these factors more fully, as well as certain other
risk factors that may affect the results and other matters discussed in
the forward-looking statements identified above, in our filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
We filed our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
January 31, 2016, with the SEC on March 30, 2016. The forward-looking
statements described above are made based on knowledge of our
business and our operating environment and assumptions we believed
to be reasonable when such forward-looking statements were made.
As a consequence of the risks, factors and uncertainties we discuss
above, and in the Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports we
may file with the SEC, other risks not known to us at this time, changes
in facts, assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, our
actual results may differ materially from those results discussed in or
implied or contemplated by such forward-looking statements.
This cautionary statement qualifies all of the forward-looking statements
made in this Annual Report to Shareholders. We cannot assure you that
the results, events or developments expected or anticipated by us will
be realized or, even if substantially realized, that those results, events or
developments will result in the expected consequences for us or affect
us, our business or our operations in the way or to the extent we expect.
You are urged to consider all of these risks, factors and uncertainties
carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements made in this
Annual Report to Shareholders 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 Annual Report to
Shareholders, and we undertake no obligation to update any of these
forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances,
except to the extent required by applicable law.