Wal-Mart Upates: Shows Interest in Carrefour, Introduces Esio Beverage

According to a recent Bloomberg report, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) may be interested in Carrefour, a France-based hypermarket chain with over 9,500 stores worldwide operating both company-operated and franchises stores. Steuart Walton, a grandson of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, is in-charge of Wal-Mart’s European expansion drive and is carefully observing the problems faced by Carrefour. ^[1] If Carrefour decides to sell some of its stores to Wal-Mart, it will help Wal-Mart expand its operations in Europe. We estimate that the company’s international business contributes around 32% of its stock value.

Last week, Wal-Mart also announced its plans to introduce Esio Beverage System in its stores. Esio Beverage is a new single-serve beverage maker that can make single servings of hot and cold drinks including coffee, tea, energy drinks and vitamin waters. This new introduction is going to pose stiff competition to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR) and Sodastream International. Going by reports, the price per serving is expected to be much lower than the average cost of Keurig’s K-Cups, which range from 60 cents to 90 cents each. ^[2]

On February 1, Wal-Mart’s share price touched a 52-week high of $62.63. Wal-Mart will release its Q4 and full year results on February 21, which should shed further light on its growth plans and performance numbers for 2011.

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1. See: Wal-Mart May Be Interested in Carrefour Stores, Bloomberg [↩]
2. See: Wal-Mart plans to sell new drink machine, The Baltimore Sun [↩]