MBA 5008 Assessment 3: Applying Analytic Techniques to Business 1

MBA-FPX5008 Assessment 3

Lashawndra Arceo

School of Business, Technology, and Health Care Administration, Capella University

MBA-FPX5008 Applied Business Analytics

Professor Pamela Meares

February 27, 2023

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Assessment 2: Using Analytic Techniques to Add Meaning to Data

Walmart Inc. is an American-based global retail company. The firm began its operations

in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. Walmart is founded by Sam Walton (Walmart Inc., 2023a).

Walmart started as a local chain of supermarket stores which later grew in number across the

state. Before the 1960s ended, Walmart was incorporated and in 1970, the company became a

publicly traded firm (Walmart Inc., 2023b). To date, the company owns, manages, and operates

more than 10,000 stores in various formats such as neighborhood supermarkets and members’

only warehouse stores globally in 46 different banners. As of 2023, the company operates in 26

countries around the world.

Corporate Information

Walmart’s retail operation is divided into three primary segments, namely Walmart U.S.,

Walmart International, and Sam’s Club (Walmart Inc., 2022). Apart from the firm’s brick-and-

mortar operations, Walmart also engages in eCommerce activities through different domains

around the world. The company has the largest reported market share in the retail market with a

5.6% share (Thomas, 2022, p. 33). Industry data from IBIS World indicated that the company

has been able to sustain positive revenue and profit growth in the past five years beginning 2017

until 2021. For the year 2021, Walmart’s domestic revenue contributes to at least 5% of the

domestic retail revenue (Thomas, 2022).

Walmart Inc. works hard to integrate its corporate goals with its sustainability practices to

ensure that as the company continues to grow, its success will impart beneficial impacts on the

community and the world (Thomas, 2022). To do this, Walmart invests in technological

ramifications in all areas of the business to reduce the company’s carbon footprint associated
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with supply chain, logistics, and retail activities. Focus on the environment is anchored in

Walmart’s purpose of providing the best shopping experience for the customers. By creating a

sustainable business structure, Walmart can also offer opportunities for employees through the

expansion of corporate efforts and the creation of programs that helps local communities thrive.

“Because at Walmart, Live Better is what we do every day” (Walmart Inc., 2023c).

Graphical Representations of Data

The first graph prepared for Walmart’s stock data for the year starting February 21, 2022,

ending on February 21, 2023, is a scatter plot of the daily high stock price (Figure 1). The scatter

plot indicates the highest price value (stock price, y-axis variable) of Walmart’s stock at a given

period (day, x-axis variable). The trend indicated by the scatter plot shows that in the year that

passed, Walmart’s daily stock price has reached above $160 per share. The shape of the scatter

plot also indicates that between March 2022 and May 2022, the daily high price of Walmart’s

stock started to decline. The price stayed within the $120 to $130 per share price range beginning

May 2022 until early August 2022.

Range in statistics refers to the difference between the highest and the lowest values of a

data set. This helps set the boundaries for frequency distribution analysis and also for the

analysis of the dispersion of values. The range is important in statistical analysis because it

shows the data points within the highest and lowest value within the data set (Holmes et al.,

2017). The succeeding months of the year 2022 are characterized by a slow increase in daily

high value per share. The graph also showed that by December 2022, Walmart’s stock price has

reached above the $150 price range which was followed by a subsequent decline in daily high

value beginning the current year.

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Figure 1
Walmart's high stock price, February 2022 to February 2023

Note. Scatter plot prepared for Walmart’s high stock data for the year beginning February 21, 2022, ending on
February 21, 2023. Data trends indicate the highest price per share above $160 per share after March 2022. Data
points indicate price recovery from $120 per share on May 19, 2022, to about $155 per share on December 5, 2022.
Data were taken from Yahoo Finance.

The second scatter plot using Walmart’s stock data focused on the daily low stock value

recorded between February 2022 and February 2023 (Figure 2). Because the data values for this

graph are related to the data values from the previous scatter plot, the shape of the plotted points

resembles the shape of the points in the first graph. Therefore, the changes in the daily low value

of Walmart’s stock correspond to the same month and period during which the daily high values

have changed a lot. In this graph, the lowest value recorded is below $120 for May 2022.

Figure 2
Walmart's high stock price, February 2022 to February 2023
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Note. Scatter plot prepared for Walmart’s low stock data for the year beginning February 21, 2022, ending on
February 21, 2023. Data trends indicate the highest price per share above $160 per share after March 2022. Data
points indicate price recovery from $120 per share on May 19, 2022, to about $155 per share on December 5, 2022.
Data were taken from Yahoo Finance.

The third graph is a histogram depicting the frequency distribution of Walmart’s daily

stock price recorded between February 2022 and February 2023 (Figure 3). The histogram for

Walmart’s stock price shows that 30% of the recorded points indicated the company’s stock

price traded mostly within the $140 and $147 per share range. The histogram also showed that

47.2% of the data points are in the class intervals lower than the $140 price range. 22.8% of the

data points are distributed in the class interval of $155 to $160 per share price range. This

information simply means that while Walmart’s stock price has reached the $150 to $160 per

share price range, most of the year, the retail giant’s stock price is valued between $116 to $139.

The frequency distribution shows a left-skewed distribution (Lind, 2021).

Figure 3
Walmart stock price histogram, February 2022 to February 2023

Note. Class intervals for stock prices are equally spaced, resulting in 6 classes. Histogram showed the frequency of
stock values per group. The trend of distribution also shows that the values are distributed in a left-skewed manner.

The fourth graph created in the analysis of Walmart’s stock values from February 2022 to

February 2023 is the histogram for the frequency distribution of the company’s stock volume

(Figure 4). The frequency distribution indicates that for the year analyzed, there are typically

between 2 million to 9.9 million shares traded for Walmart. The histogram also indicates that
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there is one instance where the total share volume traded within the year has reached as much as

34 to 41.9 million and another instance where the company traded 42 to 49.9 million shares. This

frequency distribution showed that it is possible for Walmart to trade this much number of shares

at a given time.

Figure 4
Walmart stock volume, February 2022 to February 2023

Note. Class intervals for stock prices are equally spaced by 9.9 million values, resulting in 6 classes. Histogram
showed the frequency of stock volume per interval. The trend of distribution also shows that the values are
distributed in a right-skewed manner.

Descriptive Statistics Analysis

The descriptive statistics analysis for Walmart’s stock data is important in understanding

the performance of the company’s stock within the selected year. The scatterplots for Walmart’s

daily high and low stock price and the histograms for closing price and stock volume are

indicative of the movements in the stock of the company. First, the scatterplots are critical in

illustrating the movement of the retail giant’s stock price between February 2022 and February

2023. In a short span of time, a trend is already observed. Based on the trend observed in the

scatter plots, it is evident that Walmart’s stock value tends to increase between the fourth and

first quarters of the year with a notable decline in valuation in the second quarter and a recovery
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in valuation in the third quarter. This can denote a correlation between price value and season. It

is denoted that the period at which the year changes is characterized by a sudden increase in

stock price due to potentially higher return value promised for each share traded (Caporale &

Plastun, 2019).

Meanwhile, the histogram for the frequency distribution of Walmart’s stock value and

stock volume is useful in understanding the distribution of data which denotes the volume of

points corresponding to the price range of the stock traded within the year. The shape of the

distribution of Walmart’s stock price and stock volume is best examined against the values for

the mean, median, and mode (Table 1).

Table 1: Measures of Central Tendency

  Adjusted close (US$) Stock volume

Mean 137.83 7,567,184.40
Median 139.51 6,537,950
Mode 122.37 6,745,000
SD 10.01 4,632,655.67

Statistically, a left-skewed distribution means that the values of the mean, median, and

mode are different (Lind, 2021). In principle, a left-skewed graph also indicates that the value of

the mean is less than the value of the median which applies to the closing price for Walmart’s

stock value (Holmes et al., 2017). Since the distribution is skewed negatively, the median is

preferred as the best descriptor of the data set. On this note, Walmart’s stock for 2022 and 2023

is valued at $139.51 per share. The histogram for the stock volume is skewed to the right. In

principle, a right-skewed distribution is characterized by having the value of the mean as the

largest which is the best metric to use as a primary descriptor of the data set. This characteristic

is true in the given graph and for descriptive analysis purposes, it can be said that for the years

2022 to 2023, Walmart’s stock volume is 7.567 million.

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Finally, the standard deviation (SD) for the closing price and volume of Walmart’s stock

is an indicator of the riskiness of the stock based on its performance within the year selected. The

SD in the stock price is best observed through the spread of the data points in the daily high and

daily low scatter plots. The farther away the data points are spread from one another, the higher

the SD is for the given data set. One of the easiest ways to decode the SD for the adjusted close

price of Walmart’s stock is that each data point is at least $10.02 apart. Meanwhile, for the stock

volume the SD can be interpreted as for each trading day, Walmart’s traded volume is different

by 4.63 million shares.

Conclusion: Business Applications

The information generated by descriptive analysis of Walmart’s stock information

recorded from February 2022 to February 2023 is important in identifying the movements,

behavior, and general characteristics of the company’s stock for the year mentioned. The graphs

and tables prepared for the company’s stock data are also essential in illustrating the range of

values of Walmart’s stock for the year, as well as the average, median, and most common values

per share on a given day. The spread of the data, for instance, helps illustrate the patterns of

stock against the season, generating a basis for the management to create a forecast model based

on seasonality (Kajol et al., 2020).

This information is valuable in market comparison, enabling business managers and

leaders to evaluate how well Walmart’s stock has performed between 2022 to 2023 against the

industry average and its direct competitors in the market. Additionally, the SD for the stock and

stock volume can aid in market analysis of the degree of volatility in Walmart’s stock. This will

provide valuable insights into the competitive position of Walmart in the stock market for the

retail industry.
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References

Caporale, G. M., & Plastun, A. (2019). On stock price overreactions: frequency, seasonality and

information content. Journal of Applied Economics, 22(1), 602-621.

Holmes, A., Illowsky, B. & Dean, S. (2017). Introductory Business Statistics. Openstax.

https://openstax.org/details/books/introductory-business-statistics

Kajol, K., Nath, M., Singh, R., Singh, H. R., & Das, A. K. (2020). Factors affecting seasonality

in the stock market: A social network analysis approach. International Journal of

Accounting & Finance Review, 5(4), 39-59. https://doi.org/10.46281/ijafr.v5i4.888

Lind, D. A. (2021). Basic Statistics for Business and Economics (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher

Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/9781264086870

Thomas, B. (2022, August). Retail Trade in the US. US Industry (NAICS) Report 44-45 / Retail

Trade. IBIS World.

https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-reports/retail-sector/

Walmart Inc. (2022, Jan 31). Form 10-K. https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-

0000104169/c68fb8be-2602-4f2a-aee0-261b4f04b970.pdf

Walmart Inc. (2023a). About. https://corporate.walmart.com/about

Walmart Inc. (2023b). History. https://corporate.walmart.com/about/history

Walmart Inc. (2023c). Purpose. https://corporate.walmart.com/purpose

Yahoo Finance. (2023). Walmart Inc. (WMT). https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/history?

p=WMT