WalMart

I've added to my position in WalMart because…

• It's a Dividend Aristocrat and has been increasing its dividend for 39 years.
  
• It just raised its dividend again for the first quarter of 2014 (although it was only a 2% increase)
  
• Despite the mediocre economy the company continues to increase revenues and earnings year after year.
  
• The company continues to expand internationally.
  
• The Sam's Warehouse Division continues to expand its number of stores.
  
• It continues to expand its online sales and compete effectively against Amazon.
  
• It continues to take advantage of having online sales combined with store pickup.
  
• It has a couple of test market trials ongoing where they are doing same day delivery of groceries. 
  
• It's expanding the number of Neighborhood Markets by 300+ this year to compete with the dollar stores.

I expect the company to continue to be dependent on the overall economy going forward but it's in the sweet spot of retailing. By being the lowest cost provider of what the world needs everyday, WalMart has become the first stop for most shoppers. When the economy is not doing well, the rich and middle class shop at WalMart. As the economy improves and these shoppers start to go upscale, the lower income people begin shopping at WalMart as their incomes begin to improve. There seems to always be a huge segment of the population that finds its way into a WalMart store every single day.

There will always be people that refuse to shop at WalMart because they're non-union, they buy so much of their products from Asia, or they just don't like the look of the stores, but there'll always be many, many more that will shop there and for good reason. WalMart is the low cost provider of so many things the average consumer needs.

From time to time I will add to my shares of WalMart like I did this week. I like buying quality companies at a discount and this week WalMart was on sale. 

Good Luck and Good Trading.