Stock History of Walmart, Hasbro, and Mattel

Wal-Mart, celebrated its 45th birthday yesterday with nearly 6,500 stores and wholesale clubs in fifteen countries around the world. The brainchild of founder Sam Walton, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Sam’s Club, among other franchises make up the bulk of the competition in the discount retailer market.
Walton opened his first store in Rogers, Arkansas putting up the majority of the initial start-up from his and his wife’s meager pocketbooks. The company grew steadily into the monolith we see worldwide today, raking in a reported $62.7 billion last year: “an 11.4 percent increase over the previous year, and that operating profit rose to $3.3 billion, an increase of 11.4 percent over the prior year.” This according to Wal-mart’s corporate website.
Even toy giants such as Toys ‘R Us, Kids ‘R Us, and F.A.O. Schwartz have felt the squeeze in the recent years as Wal-Mart come under scrutiny for their alleged increase in pressure on companies such as Hasbro, Mattel, and MGA among others to produce cheap merchandise. This graph charts the stock trends of Wal-Mart (in blue), Hasbro (in orange), and Mattel (in maroon).]]>