"Martin"--

You neglected to mention, however, that Walmart stock hit a new low for the year last Friday and has been stagnant for several years. Costco, however, has done well in recent years, and is still, even after Friday, much closer to its high for the year than its low.

Interestingly, Macroslop (Microsoft) has also reeked as an investment in the past few years, and is now dragging along the bottom of its range. Meanwhile Apple has close to tripled in the past year (even after Friday)).

Perhaps the monopolies are falling on hard times (poor boys).

Certainly hope you, Martin, and Doug et al. were smart enough to bail out of Walmart several years ago. The market doesn't seem to share your enthusiasm for Walmart. But then you always know better than the market, so I'm sure you'll be fine.