Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) will be bringing its hefty might to bear against the grocery competition in 2010 once again. The world's largest retailer vowed to help the U.S. consumer more by slashing prices over all its grocery product lines, which will put even more pressure on Target (TGT) and grocery-only chains like Kroger (KR) and Publix (PUSH), among others.

Over the next six weeks, the mega-retailer will cut food prices and start a new advertising campaign to promote the move. Grocery stocks, on the other hand, will be running for cover over the same period. This is, as expected, a move by Walmart to keep the customer foot traffic it recruited during the recession in 2009 who now may be returning to rival competitors for purchasing their wares.

The 2009 equity market recovery has led to an increase in Q ratios for the world's largest retailers. What does this mean? They're using their tangible assets effectively and have demonstrated the strength of intangible factors, such as brand and operational efficiency, to create shareholder value.

"Q" is the ratio of a public company's market capitalization to the market value of its tangible assets. So, a Q ratio of above one means that investors value the company's non-tangible assets -- e.g., brand, differentiation, innovation, customer experience and customer loyalty -- and see these factors as reasons to pay a higher price per share. A company with a Q ratio of below one can't generate a sufficient return on its physical assets. According to Deloitte, this could create an arbitrage opportunity, as it may be ripe for an acquisition.

Time was, we all felt rich. And we all felt entitled to spend money on ridiculous items at chocolate stores like Godiva, coffee shops like Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and, yes, upscale supermarkets like Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFMI).

Those days are long gone, and even today's reduced expectations for this extremely well-run company are possibly too optimistic. EPS for 2008 were down 20% and company shares, floating in the $7-$10 range, are well off of 52-week highs.

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

Pilgrim's Pride's home roots in the small town of Pittsburg, Texas, perhaps explain why it is the largest chicken producer in the U.S., even ahead of competitor Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) in Arkansas. In 1946, Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim dressed like a standard Pilgrim and tucked a small chicken under his arm when completing orders for customers. He gave away free chicks when he sold chicken feed as a way to expand his market for chicken feed. As of today, Pilgrim's Pride operates chicken processing plants in 13 states and Mexico and processes 44 million chickens per week, resulting in 9 billion pounds of chickens per year and over 528 million chicken eggs per year.

Pilgrim's Pride's operations are almost exclusively located in the U.S. close to its farms, and it has become the second-largest chicken supplier to Mexico as well. It does have processing plants in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Along with such huge chicken-producing numbers come a few problems, as a huge product recall in 2002 due to Lysteria contamination killed seven people and made over 40 customers sick. In 2004, more than 24,000 hens were destroyed after a strain of avian flu was found in Hopkins County, Texas.

Pilgrim's Pride is still based in the same location where it was founded over 60 years ago, but today stands as a completely vertically-integrated company: it owns every process and facility from egg to table, as it says. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Publix Super Markets (OTC: PUSH) and KFC, a division of Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) ,can be counted as some of Pilgrim's Pride's largest customers.

Be sure to check out more Big Company, Small Town posts.

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

Publix Super Markets is the largest employee-owned supermarket chain in the U.S. with 936 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. You must be an employee of Publix to buy stock in the company. More than 30% of the stock is owned by employees, and more than 30 million shares are owned by members of the founding family -- Jenkins. Its chairman is a family member -- Charlie Jenkins, Jr.

Publix ranks number 11 on the Forbes list of largest private companies, and 107 on the Forbes 500 list. It employs more than 100,000 employees, with revenues over $23 billion.

Yes, if you haven't figured it out, the company was founded by a Jenkins -- George W. Jenkins, Jr., in Winter Haven, Florida, in 1930. In 1940, Jenkins built Florida's first supermarket by mortgaging an orange grove. Jenkins moved the headquarters for Publix to Lakeland, Florida, in 1951, and built its first distribution warehouse there. In 2005, Publix celebrated its 75th anniversary.

If this move turns out to be the beginning of a trend, it could be trouble for Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI). Publix, the largest and fastest-growing employee-owned supermarket chain in the United States with 911 locations in the south, is opening its first GreenWise store devoted exclusively to selling organic and health foods. Publix began selling health foods under its GreenWise brand.

The idea is that, by offering a wide array of private-label products, Publix will be able to compete with Whole Foods on price, which I would argue is where Whole Foods is most vulnerable.

The idea for GreenWise sounds a lot like my favorite grocery store, the privately-owned Trader Joe's chain. If Publix can come close to creating the Trader Joe's atmosphere, Whole Foods better look out.

If Publix has success, chains like Safeway, Kroger, and Albertson's could follow suit. But in the business of organic foods, ambiance is key and Publix will have to create an atmosphere very different from that of its conventional stores.

Looks like Wal-Mart's recent lowering on generic prescription drugs is starting to have an industry-wide effect. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) had made its announcement a little over a few weeks ago. Competitor Target Corp (NYSE: TGT) followed suit only a short few hours after, saying that it too would lower generic prescription drug prices on many widely-prescribed drugs (in the neighborhood of 300 drugs) by 30% to 40%.

Now, national grocery retailer Publix Super Markets Inc. (OTCBB: PUSH) has stated its intention to do the same thing, which could cause other retailers to follow suit as well. As I mused yesterday, this could spell bad news for national drug and specialty retailers like CVS, Rite-Aid and Walgreens -- which can really stand to lose drug customers to the larger retail chains and see some kind of overall sales loss -- either large (catastrophic) or small (impactful).

Will the Publix move turn fellow grocery retailers like Pathmark, Albertsons and Kroger into low-price generic drug retailers as well? That's a good question, but it seems pretty clear to me that Publix will not be the last retailer to follow Wal-Mart's lead, if only for the public perception of not being known as one that did not follow the leader.