Whole Foods Market (WFM) has experienced disappointing profits over the past few years despite increasing its revenues during the same interval. While WFM’s total revenues increased by approximately 2% in 2016, and 8% in 2015, its net income (profit) declined by about 5% and 7% in 2016 and 2015 respectively, indicating higher costs of operating their businesses. The size of the WFM balance sheet has been growing larger; however, the WFM common stock experienced high volatility and posted a devastating loss to its value from a high of $65/share in October 2013 to about $31/share in December 2016. This performance was more distressing to WFM investors as the S&P 500 stock index experienced gains during the same interval. The decision to open the lower-cost 365 supermarkets has been made against this financial background, in addition to other concerns relating to the long-term healthiness and growth of its core upscale supermarket business.
Calculate the annualized stock price return of WFM over the last 3, 5, and 10 years. How does it compare to the return of the competitors you selected in question 3 and the S&P 500 index over the same time periods? What kind of steps can the company take regarding management strategy, operational efficiency and marketing policy to improve the disappointing performance of this company going forward?