I'm Chris Hill joining me today once again back by Pocolideman, Motley Full Senior, and

Jason Moser. Thanks for being here. I don't know about the popular demand but thank you for

having me. How about this, coming out of the bullpen, Jason Moser. Whatever it takes, right?

We got to talk about retail because that is the story of the day and we'll start with Walmart.

Walmart doesn't report earnings until mid-August but shares are down 8% this morning, which for

a company of its size is an enormous move. Walmart cut guidance for the current quarter and the full

fiscal year. They say higher prices are causing customers to buy less. So Walmart is cutting prices

to reduce inventory and it's not just Walmart, Jason. I mean, this is a retailer of such size and

importance that it is dragging other major retail stocks down with it, Target, Amazon, and Costco.

Just to name three. Yeah, I mean, I think this really does speak to the pernicious nature of

inflation. It's something that we talked for a long time for many, many years. It just felt like,

at some point or another inflation was going to have to rear its ugly head and then it just kind

of sneaks up on you. Now all of a sudden, it's what we've been talking about here for most of

the year and it doesn't look like it's a discussion that's going to be ending anytime soon.

The interesting thing here in regard to Walmart is they're actually calling for US Comp sales

to clock in a little bit higher than initially got it for. So they're seeing positive action

on the sales side, the revenue side of the business, but the costs involved are weighing more

and more on the overall business. Operating margin is expected to clock in at around 4.2% now

for the second quarter and somewhere in the 3.8 to 3.9% range for the fiscal year.

And I mean, this is Walmart, right? I mean, it's a company that operates on razor thin margins

already. So when you see any sorts of cost pressures like this, I mean, it's understandable

the reaction from the market, although I would argue it feels to me like it's a bit shortsighted.

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