On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was about flat.
Bombardier was up 2.0%. The company always seems to have its struggles. I’d certainly like to see it it do well. It seems to have great products but is in a very competitive industry.
Walmart was up 1.4% to an all time high. It’s still a powerful competitor in the market place. A lot of people sort of wrote it off as an investment in the last decade but it has quietly increased it earnings and gone about its business.
I see a report today that grocer Metro has seen sales benefit due to a rise in meat prices. Actually I don’t think a business benefits when its sales rise simply because of inflation. Same store volume sold matters more than same store sales dollars. If , for example, prices fell 5% and a grocer’s sales fell only 3% I would call that a great quarter because volume had increased 2%. Analyst focus too much on same store dollar growth. If they had the figures they would likely focus on same-store volume growth. But such figures are typically not available. In a world of 3% inflation a grocer needs 3% same store dollar sales growth just to stand still. If inflation were 0% and same-store dollar volume great 2% that would be a strong result, and far superior to 3% growth in a 3% inflation world.