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
March 6, 2023
MBA 5008 Assessment 3: Applying Analytic Techniques to Business 2
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
Using the five-year historical stock data, Walmart’s stock performance can be observed.
The scatter plot for Walmart’s daily high price indicates an increasing trend with seasonal
fluctuations (Figure 1). The range of values for this data set shows that in the past five years,
Walmart’s daily high stock price has grown by as much as 45.42% from $82.52 in 2018 to $120
in 2013. In the past five years, the highest daily value recorded for Walmart’s stock is $160.77.
Figure 1
Walmart’s daily high stock price record, 2018 to 2023
Note. Walmart’s five-year historical stock data is graphed in a scatter plot. Trend indicate positive growth in the past
five years with seasonal declines. Turbulent performance is observed between 2021 and 2022.
The daily high value of the company’s stock price has shown aggressive performance
between April 2018 to December 2019, followed by a turbulent performance at the beginning of
2020. This coincides with the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. Data points for the succeeding
MBA 5008 Assessment 3: Applying Analytic Techniques to Business 4
year, particularly between January 2021 and February 2020 showed significant rise and drop in
Walmart’s daily high value. In the succeeding months, the daily high value continues to dwindle,
dropping to extreme reduction in price at around July 2022, followed by slow recovery in daily
high value.
The scatter plot for Walmart’s daily low stock price exhibits similar trend as the previous
scatter plot (Figure 2), simply because the data values plotted in this graph corresponds to the
daily high price plotted in the first scatter plot. The scatter plot for Walmart’s daily low stock
price ranges from $81.87 to $159.07.
Figure 2
Walmart’s daily low stock price record, 2018 to 2023
Note. Walmart’s five-year historical stock data is graphed in a scatter plot. Trend indicate positive growth in the past
five years with seasonal declines. Turbulent performance is observed between 2021 and 2022.
The closing values for Walmart’s daily stock price are recorded and analyzed using a
histogram for frequency distribution. First, the minimum value of the individual closing prices
are recorded, followed by identification of the highest recorded stock value within the five-year
period (Figure 3). There is a total of 1,251 data points representing the recorded values for
Walmart’s stocks between 2018 to 2023. Data values are organized in 6 class intervals for the
histogram analysis and frequency distribution. Each class has an interval of $15 to efficiently
account the range of Walmart’s stock price in the past five years.
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Figure 3
Histogram and frequency distribution for Walmart’s 5-year historical stock data
Note. Histogram for the frequency distribution of Walmart’s 5-year historical stock data indicated the most common
value traded for Walmart’s stock. Classes have intervals of $15.
Based on the frequency distribution, majority of Walmart’s stock price ranges between
$135 to $149 per share. 35.41% of the total data points are found in this class interval.
Meanwhile, 16.54% of the values represent the data points included in the class interval whose
share price range between $120 to $134. 17.75% of the data points represent the class interval
with stock price range between $105 to $119, and 14.79% indicate the data points for class
interval with share price ranging from $90 to $104. The trend indicated by the histogram for
Walmart’s closing price per share is left-skewed which may mean that the mean or average stock
price is less than the median stock price.
Figure 4
Walmart 5-year historical stock data, moving average
Note. Moving average for Walmart’s stock is based on the annual historical stock data collected within the years
2018 to 2023.
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The annual moving average for Walmart’s stock is summarized in the table above
(Figure 4). Based on the values computed, Walmart’s average stock price has improved by
24.18% in two years from 2018 to 2020, 22.20% between 2020 and 2021, and 7.09% from 2021
to 2022. Knowledge of Walmart’s annual average stock price can be compared with the trend
indicated in the scatter plot for daily high and daily low prices. Simply put, even if Walmart
experiences seasonal fluctuations in prices, the average performance of the retail firm’s stock
remains strong, aided by average annual growth as much as 62.22% in the past five years.
Descriptive Statistics Analysis
The measures of central tendency for Walmart’s stock data shows the average, median,
modal, lowest, and highest stock values for a five-year and annual periods. The annual mean,
median, and mode data for Walmart’s stock is essential in evaluating the general performance of
the company’s stock (Figure 5). These values can be best compared with the lowest and highest
stock values for the same year period to understand the spread of Walmart’s stock values at a
given year. The minimum and maximum values are vital in understanding the range of values of
Walmart’s stock in the past five years. The annual data for the minimum and maximum values
are also useful in illustrating the changes in the stock price of the company.
Figure 5
Walmart 5-year historical stock data, 2018 to 2023
Note. The mean, median, and mode are the measures of central tendency used to locate the center of the data set.
The minimum and maximum points help establish the range of Walmart’s stock price in the past five years and on a
yearly basis.
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Focusing on the five-year data, it can be confirmed that the median value of Walmart’s 5-
year stock data is worth more than the average stock for the same period (Holmes et al., 2017).
As such, for the five-year historical stock data, the best metric to be used to describe Walmart’s
stock is its median value which is $124.34.
Standard Deviation (SD) which is a quantitative tool for the spread of data (Holmes et al.,
2017). Compared to Measures of Central Tendency, SD specifically measures how far apart are
the data points from the mean. The larger the value of SD, the larger the spread of data points is,
indicating higher variance in data value within the data set. Based on the information computed
using Walmart’s 5-year historical stock data, Walmart’s stock showed the highest level of
variance in 2020-2021 period. This situation can be attributed to the mixed effects of the Covid-
19 outbreak which, despite strong sales experienced by the company, is offset by economic
meltdown due to global supply chain disruption. The temporary recession that happened during
the Covid-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruption on the financial and commercial
growth of businesses and this is also reflected in the SD value of Walmart’s stock for the year
period 2020-2021 (Bauer et al., 2020).
Figure 6
Standard Deviation for Walmart’s historical stock data
Note. Standard Deviation for Walmart’s 5-year historical stock data indicates variance in the stock prices of the
company for the given year. Higher SD value denotes higher risk associated with fluctuations in stock price.
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Conclusion: Business Applications
The information generated by the statistical analysis of Walmart’s historical stock data is
helpful in discovering the trends and overall performance of the company’s financial position in
the past five years with additional insight about the behavior of movements and the traits based
on the year-by-year change in Walmart’s stock price. The trend indicated by the data points
plotted in the scatter plots and the histogram for the frequency distribution of the firm’s stock
price are indicative of the range of Walmart’s stock performance. Finally, the use of descriptive
statistics in stock data analysis shows the level of risk associated with the company’s stock at a
given time.
All of these information are essential in management applications because it helps
business managers and leaders in identify the effect of various external forces on the
performance of the company’s stock price. An example of this application is knowledge of
potential impact of seasons on the rise and fall in price of the company’s stock. This can then be
used as a foundation for the creation of a forecast model using extensive historical data that will
allow managers to craft appropriate strategic plans for the business (Kajol et al., 2020). Finally,
data generated by the statistical analyses performed in this report can be compared against
industry data to evaluate how well Walmart performs against the competitors in terms of the
average stock value, the high and low values of the stock, and the degree of variance in stock
prices indicated by the standard deviation.
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References
Bauer, L., Broady, K., Edelberg, W. & O’Donnell, J. (2020, Sept 17). Ten facts about COVID-
19 and the U.S. economy. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/research/ten-facts-
about-covid-19-and-the-u-s-economy/
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
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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
MBA 5008 Assessment 3: Applying Analytic Techniques to Business 10
Yahoo Finance. (2023). Walmart Inc. (WMT). https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/history?
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