<p> Wal-Mart is expanding its plans to open small format stores nationwide. The company now expecting to add 270 to 300 small stores to its portfolio, compared to the 120 to 150 stores it initially forecasted, according to a press release.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “By unlocking this growth opportunity and further combining our supercenters and small store formats with an unlimited selection available through ecommerce, we provide our customers with anytime, anywhere access to our brand,” said Bill Simon, Wal-Mart U.S. President and CEO. “Our small store expansion, in addition to providing customers access to a wide variety of products, including fresh, pharmacy, and fuel, will help us usher in the next generation of retail.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> The revised expansion plans follow news of Credit Suisse analyst Michael Exstein suggesting that the company should acquire Family Dollar, another smaller format store that’s aggressively expanding.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> In its latest earnings report, net sales grew more than $473 billion and global e-commerce sales surpassed $10 billion, a 30% increase over last year. Doug McMillon, President and CEO, said, “We’ll invest aggressively in e-commerce and increase our small store rollout in the U.S., as we’ve done in several other countries, to deliver value and convenience.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Wal-Mart will revise its capital expenditures forecast for the U.S. segment to fund the growth of its small store format. The forecast will be raised to $6.9 billion from $6.4 billion, up from an initial range of $5.8 to $6.3 billion.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Net sales for the fourth quarter were $128.8 billion, a 1.4% increase over last year, according to a press release. However, as of 1:49 pm EST, the company’s shares this morning fell $1.36 or 1.8% to $73.49 as a result of a drop in U.S. same-store sales and below-expectations earnings.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> The company will continue plans to open approximately 115 new supercenters this year. Currently, there are 346 Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets and 20 Wal-Mart Express stores nationwide. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://stock.walmart.com" target="_new"> Wal-Mart </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
