Moody’s affirms Walmart

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed all ratings of Walmart Inc., including the Aa2 long-term and Prime-1 commercial paper rating.

The outlook is stable.

"Today's affirmations follow Walmart's announcement that it was acquiring around 77% of India-based online retailer Flipkart for around $16 billion, a transaction which we view favorably as it provides Walmart with immediate scale in the burgeoning Indian e-commerce arena," Moody's vice president Charlie O'Shea said in a news release.

"As Flipkart is expected to generate meaningful losses for at least the next few years, this is clearly an investment for the future, and when viewed in tandem with the recently-announced sale of a majority stake in Asda, is indicative of Walmart's long-standing strategy of shifting resources into higher growth potential markets and segments when opportune.

"The overall impact on Walmart's credit profile is relatively benign as the company has built some cushion over the past few years, and we expect the company to follow past practice and utilize share repurchases as the lever when necessary to largely maintain its quantitative profile over the next 2-3 years."

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