For fiscal year $2018,$ Walmart Inc. $($WMT$)$ had total revenues of $$500\mathrm{.}34$ billion, net income of $$9\mathrm{.}86$ billion, total assets of $$204\mathrm{.}52$ billion, and total shareholders' equity of $$77\mathrm{.}87$ billion.

a$.$ Calculate Walmart's ROE directly, and using the DuPont Identity.

b$.$ Comparing with the data for Costco $,$ use the DuPont Identity to understand the difference between the two firms' ROEs.

a$.$ The ROE calculated directly is $\%.($Round to two decimal places.$)$

The ROE calculated using the Dupont Identity is $\%.($Round to two decimal places.$)$

b$.$ Walmart has a inferior profit margin, a asset turnover and a equity multiplier. Walmart has a ROE that is driven by asset turnover and leverage. $($Select from the drop$-$down menus.$)$

Data table

For fiscal year $2018,$ Costco Wholesale Corporation $($COST$)$ had a net profit margin of $2\mathrm{.}08\%,$ asset turnover of $3\mathrm{.}55,$ and a book equity multiplier of $3\mathrm{.}37.$ Costco's ROE $($DuPont$)$ is $24\mathrm{.}88\%.$