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Wal-Mart fluttering in the wind

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Just when we think Wal-Mart is gaining ground in certain areas, it loses in others. This is nothing new to a point, as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has a whole host of things against it every day; fierce competitors try to chip away at pieces of its business with differentiated offerings and fresher strategies, and many communities that will stop at nothing to keep the world's largest retailer from entering certain cities and towns.

Wal-Mart estimated over the weekend that October same-store sales will increase only 0.5% in October, setting the stage for possible share turnover today (it's already underway -- the stock is down 2.64% to $49.39 at last check) to more and more comparisons against Target, which continues to outshine much-larger competitor Wal-Mart every month with higher same-store sales reports. Remember though -- a 2% gain at Wal-Mart is not equitable to a 2% gain at Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) -- the two chains are quite different beasts when it comes to overall sales and revenue figures, with Wal-Mart being about five times larger than Target in terms of overall revenues.

But, with that being said, Wal-Mart's latest estimate has been dropped in the midst of a series of sales misses. Wal-Mart has struggled, and will continue to do so, to shed its bargain-basement image and attract higher-scale customers. These are the ones who now flock to Target, which has made that exact transformation in the public eye recently. Wal-Mart has one massive re-badging effort to go, and I'm not sure if they can ever get there without incredible moves -- which most of us have not seen yet.

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Last updated: November 24, 2009: 04:22 AM

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