An innovation can be as simple as your bookkeeper reducing a bill paying process by 3 steps and thus saving 5 minutes per bill, to an entirely new product line, to an improvement to a current product, to a new highmargin service, to a new cultural ritual to improve employee engagement.
All but one of 25 analysts rate the stock as a "buy" or a "hold, " with HSBC's Husson saying Wal-Mart has improved its product mix to include more high-margin goods.
There might however be a margin impact this quarter due to the high component costs at the start of any product cycle, exacerbated by the number of new products Apple has launched this holiday season.