Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), is offering $20 gift cards to all its members who join Sam’s Club or renew their existing membership before Jan 31, 2015. This is expected to be one of the best membership deals from Sam’s Club and a perfect New Year gift for its members. With that $20 gift card, members can purchase any product ranging from electronics, jewelry, or apparels of all brands.
Not only this, Sam’s Club will also provide its customers with an additional $5 offer for those who share the $25 gift card offer on Facebook, Inc. (FB).
Sam’s Club has been offering superior products and savings offers to millions of members in 646 clubs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Recently, it introduced an exclusive furniture collection called The Black Mountain Collection, designed by author Nicholas Sparks and inspired by Sparks’ latest book, The Longest Ride (2013), and the upcoming movie based on this novel. (Read: Wal-Mart's Sam's Club Launches New Furniture Collection)
Sam’s Club pulled in $12.7 billion in sales during its third quarter fiscal 2015, up 2.3% from the prior-year quarter, excluding fuel impact. Sam’s Club comps, excluding the impact of fuel sales, increased 0.4% versus an increase of 1.1% in the prior-year quarter.
Comp sales were in line with the company’s expectations of being slightly positive in the third quarter. Sam’s Club comp traffic was up 0.2%, while average ticket increased 0.2%. E-commerce sales positively impacted comp sales by approximately 0.2% in the quarter.
Despite an improvement in the U.S and Sam’s Club comps and international operations, the company narrowed its guidance for fiscal 2015 during the third quarter conference call. It expects to invest more in the e-commerce business and in Sam’s Club.
The company also expects higher U.S. health care costs and tax rates to hurt profits in fiscal 2015. Not only this, currency headwinds, cut in food stamps and sluggish economic environment are likely to hurt the top line in the upcoming quarters. (Read: Wal-Mart's Q3 Earnings In Line, Sales Beat; View Narrowed).
Currently, Wal-Mart has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked retailers include Ingles Markets, Inc. (IMKTA) and Safeway, Inc. (SWY). While Ingles Markets sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Safeway holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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