Financial Statement Analysis Of Walmart: Directors’ Report, Quality Of Earnings And Earnings Sustainability

Background of the Company

Discuss about the Financial Statement Analysis.

The following report aims to present the financial analysis of a listed company for the financial years 2013, 2014 and 2015 in order to provide useful information. The report is presented on the basis of selected company Walmart, which is a retailing company involved in the departmental and grocery stores. The report highlights the evaluation on company’s Directors’ Report for the reporting financial years. The study also covers the assessment on “Quality of Earnings” together with the discussion on “Earnings Sustainability” as well as the cash flow statement of the selected company Walmart. Other than the financial analysis of Walmart, the report provides assessment on the quality of financial credit policy of Walmart for the reporting year 2013- 2015 for providing useful information to the stakeholders and potential investors. In addition, the present report also highlights the comparison based on the financial and non- financial factors considering other stated factors.

Walmart is a public company founded on 2^nd July 1962based on the retailing industry having its headquarter in United States. The organization was founded by Sam Walton serves regions across the world. The company deals in the business of retaining for electronic products, furniture and home appliances, sports equipments and other supplies including grocery and jewelry. Presently, the reported revenue of the company amounts to US$482.13 billion while the operating income amounted to US$24.105 billion as well as the value of total assets amounted to US$199.581 billion (Walmart.com, 2017). It has been noted that the company is considered to be the largest organization in the world in terms of sales revenue. Besides, the company is considered to be the second largest company in United Arab Emirates with a GDP amount of $396 billion. It has been reported that the organization has around 2.2 million number of employees and considered as one of the largest employer based on the private sector.Currently, the company operates as per four divisions that includeWalmart U.S., international, global ecommerce and Sam’s Club (Walmart.com, 2017).

Directors’ report of the organization provides information on the organizational performance in terms financial factors, compliance of statutory requirements as well as standards of corporate social responsibility. As per the organizational financial report, board of directors includes sixteen members along with the members included in board committee. Considering the financial performance of the year 2015, Walmart experienced net growth of around $64 billion in terms of consolidated sales revenue while 19% growth in the earnings per share in comparison to the previous year 2014 and 2013 (Walmart.com, 2017). During the financial year 2014, Walmart did not incur the profit and sales at the expected level while the company considered priorities with respect to the financial leverage and economic returns. It is observed that the company had been operating in the competitive retail sector that experiences sales competition in terms of discounts, variety in sales departments and supermarkets. Considering the organizational division, Walmart US generated net sales around $274,433 during the financial year 2013, which was increased to $279,406 in 2014, and 288,049 during the year 2015 (Walmart.com, 2017). Considering the performance of Walmart International division, amount of net sales during the year 2013 was $134,748, which increased to $136,513 during the year 2014 but declined in the financial year 2015 by around 0.3% amounted to $136,160. Similarly, net sales of the division Sam’s Club increased by 1.9% during the year 2015 whereas the sales increased by 1.6% during the year 2014. Further, the sales revenue from the organization’s store and club,which includes sales from e- commerce business reflected growth of around 0.5% during the year 2015 while the same was declined by 0.5% during the year 2014 (Walmart.com, 2017).

Evaluation of Directors’ Report

The directors’ report also provided the performance of Walmart based on the financial leverage that has been presented by comparing operating expenses as well as incomes. During the financial year 2015, the division of Walmart US generated operating income of around $21 billion, which was declined by 2.1% compared to the income earned during the financial year 2014. It has been noted that the investments of the company resulted in strategic growth during the year 2015, which was lower in the years 2014 and 2013whereas the amount of operating income increased at a higher rate by around 2.3% (Walmart.com, 2017). However, during the financial year 2014, the organization experienced growth in operating cost, which included the cost of medical care, insurance, wages and other litigation costs. On the contrary, directors’ report presented the organizational performance in terms of operating income, which was increased by 1.0% during the year 2015. The Board of directors of the company contended that the increase in sales by lower rate was due to the factor of unleveraged financial expenses. Similarly, organizational investment return reflected the 15.9% during 2013, 16.9% during the year 2014 while 17.0% during the year 2015. Capability of generating income from business operations is well measured by considering free cash flow to measure the liquidity position of the company.

Quality of earnings means the value of earnings incurred by the company that is attributed to the amount of higher sales or to the amount of lower costs. Quality of earnings does not consider the factors that determine the simulated profit in terms of inflation for the amount of inventory or inflation in the interest rates that affect the expected return (Weber & Wasieleski, 2013). Moreover, during the time of high inflation level in the country’s economy, quality of earnings is regarded as poor that is below average. In case the financial earnings of the company is measured by applying conservative approach then the earnings quality is regarded as higher quality unlike the earnings determined using the accounting policies as aggressive approach. Accordingly, it is essential to understand the company’s accounting concepts in the financial report in accordance with the rules of accounting. For this purpose, amount of cash- flow during the financial year, timing and certainty of cash flow in the company along with the resources of generating income (Post & Byron, 2015).

In case of present company Walmart, it has been noticed that the concept of accounting maintained was conservative approach during the reporting financial years 2013, 2014 and 2015. For the purpose of measuring organizational profitability, Walmart considered financial factors for recognizing the expenses and incomes along with the return on investments. During the year 2013, the company incurred $17 billion, which was declined during the years 2014 as well as 2015. On the contrary, on comparing the incomes during the year 2014 and 2015, Walmart incurred higher income during the year 2015. In order to measure the quality of earnings for the company, reliability feature or relevance feature can be considered in compliance with “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles” and conceptual framework of accounting. Considering the reliability factor for preparing the financial statements, it is essential to recognize the accounting information free from misrepresentation and error (Walmart.com, 2017). Therefore, statement of financial income and financial position of Walmart has been prepared in compliance with the reliable sources as per the requirement of accounting standards and conceptual framework. During the year 2013, total revenue of the company had been measured by considering operating sales and income from membership that was realized while the cost of sales had been recognized by considering conservative approach. In addition, valuation of assets for property and equipment had been determined using fair market value that reflects reliable value essential to determine the financial position.

Assessment of “Quality of Earnings” together with the “Earnings Sustainability” of Walmart

Another feature of measuring quality of earnings is relevance that involves predictive power and timely manner. As per the requirements of accounting framework, the business organization is required to follow accrual system of accounting rather than cash accounting system. Accrual accounting system follows the periodic approach for recognizing accounting information during the financial year; hence it reflects more reliable and reasonable outcome on company’s performance (Chun et al., 2013). In case of Walmart, the accounting system has been prepared on the basis of accrual system as the outstanding payments have been recorded as liabilities during each of the financial year. In addition, economic inflation during the year 2013 was higher compared to that of the year 2015 therefore, the quality of earnings reflected better outcome during the year 2015.

Besides, earnings sustainability is measured to evaluate the organizational performance for the purpose of investment proposals. Other than the financial ratios on company’s profitability, capital employment, assets turnover and sales ratio, determination of earnings sustainability is important for making business decisions. In order to determine the justification of the current price of the company’s stocks, sustainability of the profits for different financial years is computed with respect to the sales revenue, cost of sales and other financial factors (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2014). Therefore, in case of Walmart, essential factor of business expenses includes operating selling and administrative expenses for the financial years.

Earnings sustainability
Operating selling and administrative expenses
	2015	2014	2013
Net sales revenue (a)	4,82,229	4,73,076	4,65,604
Cost of goods sold (b)	3,65,086	3,58,069	3,52,297
Gross profit ©	1,17,143	1,15,007	1,13,307
Operating selling and administrative expenses (d)	93,418	91,353	88,629
sustainability earning in terms of selling and administrative expenses (d/a) %	19.37	19.31	19.04

(Source: Created by author)

In view of the above calculation of earnings sustainability with respect to the expenses on selling and administration, Walmart earned consistent income during the three financial years with the increasing trend.

Sales growth	2015	2014	2013
Net sales revenue (a)	4,82,229	4,73,076	4,65,604
Growth rate %	1.93	1.60	5.00
Cost of goods sold (b)	3,65,086	3,58,069	3,52,297
sustainability earning in terms of Cost of goods sold (b/a) %	75.71	75.69	75.66

(Source: Created by author)

Sales growth percentage of Walmart reflected highest growth in the financial year 2013 compared to the sales of the year 2012. However, amount of sales revenue has been increasing over the three financial years but the growth rate was lowest during the year 2014 which was 1.60% (Walmart.com, 2017). Moreover, cost of goods sold also increased during each of the financial years whereas the ratio of cost of goods sold and sales revenue reflected consistent increased rate. 

Accordingly, it can be said that the selected organization’s quality of earnings as well as earnings sustainability, Walmart maintained the conceptual framework requirement. Financial statements and non- financial factors on corporate social responsibility and corporate governance have been prepared by considering the requirements of GAAP and financial performance reflected good quality of earnings during the financial year 2014 and 2015 (Joshi et al., 2013). In addition, company maintaining sustainability on earnings with respect to cost of sales, sales and administration expenses compared to the sales revenue in each of the financial year that is 2015, 2014 and 2013.

Evaluation of cash flow statement of Walmart

Cash flow statement for the reporting financial year represents the total amount of cash inflow and outflow in a company that is measured by comparing the account balances of previous reporting year. The statement specifies the cash flows from operating activities, investing activities as well as financial activities eliminating the non- financial transactions. Considering the cash flow statement of Walmart, it has been observed the company earned net cash from operating activities amounted to $25 billion during the financial year 2013 which was decreased in the year 2014 and again increased in the year 2015 (Walmart.com, 2017).

	2015	2014	2013
Net cash flow generated from operating activities	28,564	23,257	25,591
growth rate	22.82	-9.12	5.51

(Source: Created by author)

Cash flow from operating activities reflected inconsistent trend as the amount in the year 2013 increased by 5.51% while it declined in 2014 by 9.12%. On the contrary, the cash flow increased in the year 2015 with the high rate by 22.82% representing the efficiency of the company in conducting direct business operations.

Free cash flow	2015	2014	2013
Cash flow from operating activities	28,564	23,257	25,591
Less: Capital expenditures	12,174	13,115	12,898
Free cash flow	16,390	10,142	12,693
Change Amount	6,248	-2,551	1,948
Change percentage (%)	61.61	-20.10	18.13

(Source: Created by author)

Considering the free cash flow, it can be said the company had left over fund from the business operations increased during the financial years 2013 and 2015 after expending for acquiring fixed assets. During the year 2014, amount of free cash flow declined by 20.10% while the same increased during the year 61.61% which represents the improvement in organizational business performance (Walmart.com, 2017).

Cash flows from investment activities represent the amount of cash fund spent by the company to acquire fixed assets, which includes sales proceeds from the disposal of organizational long- term assets. During the year 2015, Walmart sold off certain resources of business operations amounted to $671 million while sale of property and equipment took place during all the three financial years (Walmart.com, 2017).

Change in cash flows from investing activities	2015	2014	2013
Net cash used in investing activities	11,125	12,526	12,637
Change amount	-1,401	-111	-3,972
Change percentage (%)	-11.18	-0.88	-23.91

(Source: Created by author)

Cash flow from investing activities represent feasible and favorable if the amount used in acquiring assets increase during the financial year. As the percentage of investment amount in Walmart reflected decreasing trend during the financial year, it can be said the company was not efficient in procuring business operation assets. During the year 2013, cash used in the investment activities declined by around 24% while the same was improved in the year 2014 and reflected only 1% (Walmart.com, 2017).

On the contrary, cash flow from financial activities also reflected negative balance, which indicates cash used to finance the business operations.

Change in cash flows from financing activities	2015	2014	2013
Net cash used in financing activities	15,071	10,789	11,946
Change amount	4,282	-1,157	3,488
Change percentage (%)	39.69	-9.69	41.24

(Source: Created by author)

The above table represents inconsistent trend in using the cash funds from financing activities during the financial years. During the financial year 2013, Walmart experienced 41% increase in accumulating funds from long- term debt financing whereas the amount used in financing activities declined during the year 2014 by 9.69%. Besides, funds used in financing activities during the year 2015 represented 39% change compared to that of the year 2014 stating the most of cash funds used in repayment of debts and dividends. Accordingly, it has been observed that the company’s ability in using the cash funds for financing activities improved over the current years compared to the policies used during the financial year 2013 (Dichev et al., 2013). In addition, the overall cash funds of the company reflected inconsistent trend reflecting increasing and decreasing.

Change in cash and cash equivalent	2015	2014	2013
Total amount of cash and cash equivalent	9,135	7,281	7,781
Change amount	1,854	-500	1,231
Change percentage (%)	25.46	-6.43	18.79

(Source: Created by author)

During the year 2013 and 2015, Walmart generated cash inflows with the increasing trend 18% and 25% respectively. On the contrary, the company incurred cash flow during the year 2014 but the percentage declined by 6% compared to the financial year 2013. Therefore, performance of the company was improved during the current year and past year 2013 compared to the year 2014 (Walmart.com, 2017).

In order to make investment decisions on company’s stocks and shares, evaluation of financial credit quality is essential in terms of credit worthiness for the investors’ investment portfolio. Further, the company applies the method of evaluation of financial credit quality based on the significant due diligence on the company’s overall performance including financial and non- financial information (Francis, Michas & Seavey, 2013). It is evaluated by using the overall interest rate of the economy and market industry of other organizations in similar sector. Accordingly, factors that affect the evaluation of financial credit quality incorporate performance of past years, borrowing and repayment trend in the past years together with the economic potential for the future years. Evaluation of financial credit quality is considered for short- term as well as for long- term in terms of evaluating the probability of default in repayment of loans (Li, Abeysekera & Ma, 2014).

Considering the statement of financial position of Walmart, it has been observed that the short- term liabilities amounted to $65 billion, which was higher in the financial year 2014 amounted to $69 billion and $71 billion in the year 2013. Long- term debt of the company involves amount of $41 billion in 2015, which was almost same during the year 2014 and $38 billion during the year 2013 (Walmart.com, 2017). It states that the organization had been borrowing debts maintaining the timeliness and amount of repayment.

Financial credit quality
	2015	2014	2013
Sales revenue	482,229	473,076	465,604
Short- term borrowings	1,592	7,670	6,805
Long- term debts	41,086	41,771	38,394
Credit quality based on short- term borrowings (%) (short- term borrowings/ sales)	0.33	1.62	1.46
Credit quality based on long- term borrowings (%) (long- term borrowings/ sales)	8.52	8.83	8.25

 (Source: Created by author)

Calculation of financial credit quality ratio with respect to the short- term loans and long- term debts reflects ability of repayment in accordance with the amount of sales revenue generated during the financial year. Considering the sales revenue, short- term loans consists of 0.33% of the sales for the financial year 2015 whereas 1.46% in 2013 and 1.62% in the year 2014. It has been considered that sales percentage of the company in terms of short- term loan declined in the year 2015, which was higher in previous years 2014 and 2013 (Walmart.com, 2017). On the contrary, long- term borrowing consisted almost consistent percentage during all the three financial years. During the financial year 2013 long- term debts consisted of 8.25%, which was increased in subsequent years 2014 and 2015 (Walmart.com, 2017). Accordingly, it can be said that the company is able in making repayment of loans in the current year as well as in the future years.

Profitability analysis	2015	2014	2013
Sales revenue	482,229	473,076	465,604
Cost of sales	365,086	358,069	352,297
Gross profit	117,143	115,007	113,307
Net profit	16,363	16,022	16,999
Sales and gross profit percentage (%)	24.29	24.31	24.34
Sales and net profit percentage (%)	3.39	3.39	3.65

(Source: Created by author)

The above computation of profitability ratio represents consistent trend during the three financial years with respect to gross profit as well as net profit. Percentage of gross profit consisted of 24% with respect to the sales revenue while percentage of net profit consisted of 3% during 2015, 2014 and 2013. Hence, Walmart can be said to be capable of repaying the short- term as well as long- term debts. Therefore, it can be said that the company’s quality in terms of financial credit is good and can be rated as AAA, AA that is high credit rating for investing in company’s bonds and shares.

In order to justify the evaluation and analysis of financial and non- financial performance of Walmart, factors with respect to several other companies have been compared. Considering the financial performance of Costco during the current accounting years, total revenue during the financial year 2015 amounted to $116 million, $112 million in 2014 and $105 million in the year 2013 respectively. The company reflected increasing trend for sales revenue as well as for cost of goods sold. Accordingly, net income of the organization reflected increasing trend during the three financial years.

Costco
Profitability analysis	2015	2014	2013
	$ in millions
Total Revenue	116.2	112.64	105.16
Cost of sales	101.06	98.46	91.95
Gross profit	15.14	14.18	13.21
Amount change	0.96	0.97	–
Percentage change based on the sales	0.83	0.86	–
Net profit	2.37	2.05	2.04
Amount change	0.32	0.01	–
Percentage change based on the sales	33.33	1.03

(Source: Created by author)

Considering the gross profit trend of Costco, it can be said that the earnings percentage of Costco had been inconsistent while the earnings ratio of Walmart was consistent through the financial years. Similarly, financial performance of Best Buy reflected inconsistent trend during the year 2015, 2014 and 2013. During the financial year 2013 the company incurred losses whereas the financial performance improved during the year 2014 and 2015 as the company earned profit with an increasing rate of around 50%. Further, gross profit rate of the company reflected inconsistent trend since, the rate of gross profit declined in the year 2015 compared to that of 2013 and 2014 (Collins, Hribar & Tian, 2014). Moreover, gross profit percentage of Walmart had been consistent during the financial years 2015, 2014 and 2013 along with the percentage of net profit income.

Considering the financial information and performance of Staples Company, it can be said that the company managed to improve its business operations over the years. The financial performance resulted in 3% increment in the net profit while other incomes reflected increase of 2.99 times compared to the earnings of previous financial years. Further, the company also maintained growth in accumulated funds from operations as well as employment of financial and fixed assets as business operation resources (Chang et al., 2014). In view of the financial performance of Sears Holdings, sales revenue reflected decreasing trend over the financial years together with the amount of cost of sales.

Sears Holdings
Profitability analysis	2015	2014	2013
	$ in millions
Total Revenue	25,146	31,198	36,188
Cost of sales	19,336	24,049	27,433
Gross profit	5,810	7,149	8,755
Amount change	-1,339	-1,606	–
Percentage change based on the sales	-5.32	-5.15	–
Net profit/ (Loss)	(1,128)	(1,810)	(1,116)
Amount change	-682	694	1,116
Percentage change based on the sales	50.93	-43.21	–

(Source: Created by author)

Above computation of Sears Holdings disclosed net loss at an increasing rate whereas gross profit of the company declined over the years with an increasing rate. Accordingly, it can be said the company had experienced sustainability issues and negative impact on the financial performance. Besides, balance of cash and cash equivalent of the company also declined at high rate since net cash flows operating activities reflected negative balance during the year 2015, 2014 and 2013. Therefore, it can be said that the financial credibility of the company was poor in compared to the Walmart because the company had been consistent in financial performance and earnings sustainability (Fratzscher, König & Lambert, 2016).

Comparison and ranking of Walmart using other companies
	Factors of comparison
Companies	Sales revenue	Gross margin	Net margin	Cash flows	Earnings sustainability	Financial credit quality	Ranking
Costco	Medium	Medium	High	Medium	High	Medium	2
Best Buy	Medium	Medium	Low	Medium	Medium	Low	4
Staples	High	High	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	3
Sears Holdings	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	5
Walmart	Medium	High	Medium	High	High	Medium	1

(Source: Created by author)

Considering the factors that affect the financial performance and sustainability of the organization, it has been observed that the performance of Sears Holdings has been lowest. Besides, the performance of Staples and Best Buy has been moderate in terms of cash flows and earnings sustainability whereas financial credit quality of Best Buy was low (Yaari et al., 2016). On the contrary, sales revenue of Costco as well as Walmart reflected medium level whereas gross margin of Costco reflected medium level and that Walmart reflected high level in terms of earning percentage. Further, financial credit quality of both the companies is medium but the cash flow of Walmart is high and that of Costco reflected medium level (Khanji & Siam, 2015). Accordingly, Walmart has been raked one over Costco based on the cash flow and earnings sustainability, even though the net margin of Walmart is medium while that of Costco is high.

Evaluation of several factors of financial performance, earnings sustainability, credit quality of Walmart and related comparisons with other organizations, it can be said that the company maintains the financial stability. Considering the earnings analysis in terms of net profit, Walmart is recommended to control the business costs so that the net profit margin can be increased. In addition, current assets of the company increased during the year 2015 while current liabilities decreased but the current ratio appeared as 0.96 that is below industrial benchmark required to pay off the liabilities. Hence, the company is recommended to nullify its current liabilities and invest in acquisition of short- term assets to maintain the liquidity position. In addition, statement of cash flow reflected increased value from the business operating activities but decreased value from investing activities. Therefore, in order to improve the financial position of the business, the organization is recommended to invest surplus funds for acquiring fixed assets.

It has been observed that the credit quality of the company reflected favorable status in terms of short- term as well as long- term loans and debts. However, the company is recommended to reduce the balance of short- term liabilities that includes suppliers’ payments and advertising costs amounted to $2.4 billion during the year 2015 and 2014. Income on each shares of the company represented $5.03 in the year 2013 which was declined in the year 2015 to $5.01, hence it is recommended to control the business expenses so that the overall profit and net income per share can be increased. The management of Walmart is also recommended to manage the cost of capital in terms of equity capital as well as the value of debts to increase the return on capital investment for the benefit of users and potential investors. Considering the positive, consistent and improved performance of the company, potential investors can consider for making investments in Walmart over other companies.    

Conclusion

The present report draws the evaluation and analysis of the performance presented by the directors of Walmart for the current year together with the previous years 2014 and 2013. It has been analyzed that the net revenues of the company increased over the years together with the earnings per share. The company also incurred sales revenue at increasing growth rate with respect to each of the sales divisions on different business products. Further, assessment of quality of earnings and earnings sustainability has been conducted based on the financial information of the year 2015, 2014 and 2013. The company has been following conservative approach for the purpose of recognizing incomes along with the compliance of accrual system of accounting as per the requirements of conceptual framework. Considering the earnings quality, the financial statements of Walmart represented reliable and relevant financial information on valuation of assets, income and expenditure values together with the capital expenditures. Similarly, earnings sustainability has been analyzed based on the sales returns for cost of goods sold, sales and administration expenses or advertisement expenses which disclosed increasing and consistent trend.

The report presented the analysis on cash flow statement of the company for the financial year 2015 together with the previous years 2014 and 2013. It has been analyzed that the cash flows from operating activities reflected increased growth rate whereas rate of free cash flows represented inconsistent growth rate. During the financial years 2015 and 2013, free cash flows presented increased rate while rate declined in the year 2014 with negative balance. Moreover, ability of repayment of loans and debts has been measured through the financial credit quality as well as operational profitability analysis resulting in AAA, AA credit rating. Additionally, recommendation on the company’s performance and investment proposal has been provided based on the comparison and ranking with the performance of other companies.

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