=+For a recent year, the following cost of merchandise sold and beginning and ending inventories have been provided from corporate annual reports (in millions) for these three companies:

Costco Wal-Mart JCPenney Cost of merchandise sold $52,746 $264,152 $12,078 Merchandise inventory, beginning 4,015 32,191 3,210 Merchandise inventory, ending 4,569 33,685 3,400