When the CEO of Walmart says that inflation is coming, we best be on the lookout. As head of America's largest retailer, Bill Simon is in a unique place to see inflation traveling all the way through the supply chain.

Walmart's (WMT) advanced computer systems are the some of the largest and most advanced computer systems in the world -- on par with computers the U.S. military uses. Every product and purchase is tracked to get stores resupplied as quickly as possible, usually just in time. As a retailer, Walmart is going to be keeping track of costs and profit margins very closely. Managers all across the company are carefully watching the reports.

This post is part of Japan: A Special Report for Investors.

"Japan's tsunami has struck worldwide," says Richard Moroney, the editor of Dow Theory Forecasts, which has maintained a model portfolio of blue chip stocks for over 50 years.

Here, he reviews a number of the top buy recommendations in the newsletter's portfolios to determine the potential risk posed by the recent tragic developments in Japan.

Stocks cited as "Focus List Buys" are are those issues that the service expect to significantly outperform the market over the next 12 months.

Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) issued its fourth-quarter report today. The company was rocking this afternoon: with a little more than two hours to go before the close of the session, the stock was up 6% to $39.93. Earlier during the intraday session, a new 52-week high of $40.26 was achieved. It's good to get over that psychological round-number level, right?

The volume of shares traded so far is already in the spectacular range. The 52-week low for the stock is $24.02, so the current price is more than a comfortable distance away from that point. The one-year chart is attractive even if it doesn't plot a straight-up line.

Target (TGT) has not been a good stock at all since the turn of the year. Take a look at the twelve-month chart. Find where the shares were on Jan. 3. Got it? Now, do you see what happened since then? I don't think you can miss such a big drop.

The 52-week low for the retailer is $48.23; the 52-week high is $60.97. The equity finished down 0.7% to $51.30 on Monday. Volume, thankfully, was below average. That lack of conviction could be a saving grace.

Walmart (WMT) made an announcement yesterday after the bell that presumably would have excited Wall Street. The company's quarterly dividend was raised by 21%. Very nice. So why are the shares off today?

To be fair, they were in positive territory earlier in the morning. Unfortunately, as I write this, with roughly three hours to go before the conclusion of the session, they are down 0.5% to $51.74. Perhaps they will be in the green by the end of the day. When you think about it, though, a 21% jump in a metric that is supposed to be friendly to investors should have received a lot more respect, correct?

Walmart (WMT) is the world's largest retailer, competing with companies like Target (TGT), Costco (COST), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Best Buy (BBY). The company recently released its earnings for last quarter and we have updated our price estimate to $70.75, which implies a 30% premium to the market price.

One of the outcomes in the earnings was continued improvements in Sam's Club's results. Sam's Club is a warehouse club that charges a membership fee to its customers and gives them an opportunity to buy goods at lowest prices in the market. It offers bulk displays of brand name merchandise, including hard goods, some soft goods, commercial-sized grocery items, and selected private-label items under the "Member' Mark", "Bakers & Chefs" and "Sam's Club" brands in a warehouse club format.

Walmart (WMT) is the world's largest retailer, competing with companies like Target (TGT), Costco (COST), and Best Buy (BBY). Walmart's average revenue per square foot for its U.S. stores has been relatively stable in the past two years in the range of $428 to $434. We expect the revenue to increase slightly in the near term and stabilize thereafter.

With a wide assortment of product offerings to its target group of low-to-middle class U.S. consumer,s and by maintaining its pricing power over suppliers, we believe Walmart will be able to sustain its leadership in the retail industry. But the company's comparable store sales growth has been declining due to competition from discount stores and a change in consumer spending habits due to a weak economy -- all of which are impacting sales.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) is certainly the biggest icon in the retail industry. It doesn't seem like such a big name today, though. With a few minutes left until the closing bell sounds, I see a quote of $53.64 for the stock, a price that represents a decline of over 3%. And the volume backing this move is very high, my friends.

The major indexes were volatile today, so that obviously played into the sell-off. However, the fourth-quarter report also gave investors some cause for concern. According to the press release, adjusted income from continuing businesses came in at $1.34 per share. This compares to an adjusted $1.21 per share in the year-ago period.

Barnes & Noble, the Gap, RadioShack, and Sears -- that may sound like the lineup at the local mall, but in fact they are just a few of the retailers scheduled to step into the earnings spotlight this week. Following last week's disappointing January retail sales numbers from the Commerce Department but strong fourth-quarter reports from Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) and Nordstrom (JWN), the coming week will offer plenty more data on the sector for investors to mull over.

Walmart

Bentonville-based Walmart (WMT) offered free holiday shipping, closed its Moscow office and named a chief merchandising officer during its fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings for that period to come to $1.31 per share, up from $1.17 in the same quarter of last year. The world's largest retailer also is expected to post revenues of $117.7 billion for the three months that ended in January. That's 3.5% more than a year earlier.

Winn-Dixie Stores (WINN) issued results for its fiscal second quarter on Monday after the bell. Today, the supermarket chain, which counts Walmart (WMT) as a related stock, is receiving a bid; at the time of this writing, the shares were higher by 2.5% to $6.98. Volume is above average.

The 52-week low for the equity is $5.95 while the 52-week high is $13.90. The one-year chart is not pleasant. Such a downturn in fortune doesn't make the company appealing.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT) is the world's largest retailer, competing with companies like Target (TGT), Costco (COST), Amazon (AMZN) and Best Buy (BBY). Our price estimate for Wal-Mart stands at $65.42, which implies a premium to market price.

Perhaps it is the cynic in me, but I was not surprised to read this story about Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) from Bloomberg. The news outlet obtained an e-mail that was sent to Walmart managers instructing them to raise prices on an average of 1,800 types of toys per store. The managers were instructed to perform the price markups "as soon as possible" and were told that the price changes were "to better enable your store and the company to have a successful financial month."

Walmart stated that these price increases went into effect because temporary discounts on products (including toys) ended on November 30. Spokesman Ravi Jariwala, spokesman for Walmart, said in an e-mail, "Once a rollback ends, the item returns to its original everyday low price." That said, Eric Johnson director of the Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth noted that "In previous years Wal-Mart has come out and hammered everyone with unbelievably low toy prices ... They stepped away from that this year and after Thanksgiving their prices have crept back up."

Poor The Talbots, Inc. (TLB). Talk about a nasty drop. With about ninety minutes to go before the end of the trading day, the company's stock is down over 20% to $9.03. Volume is way, way above average. Fortunately, the price is still comfortably higher than the 52-week low of $6.81. But that might not be saying much at this point for shareholders.

The catalyst for the move was the third-quarter earnings report. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), net profit from continuing activities on an adjusted basis came in at 27 cents per share, four pennies below the year-ago figure.

Big Lots (BIG), a retailer whose colleagues include Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT), was feeling the wrath of the sellers on Friday. The stock closed down 5% to $29.50. Volume was above the norm.

According to Briefing.com, the company made 23 cents per share in the third quarter. Unfortunately, that was one penny below the overall forecast. In addition, guidance for Q4 wasn't too striking, and same-store sales experienced only slight growth.