Walmart announced that it has donated $100,000 to continue the Walmart Tribal College Scholarship Program.

Analysts don’t like surprises, especially the negative kind, where results are worse than forecast, so there wasn’t a lot of love for Walmart earlier this week after the company reported a disappointing 1.8% fourth quarter comp decline. Never mind that earnings per share exceeded consensus estimate by three cents, analysts were clearly peeved by the top line shortfall at the stores division, and having been burned by the company’s earlier guidance expressed little confidence in the company’s ability to deliver on its strategic objectives.

There’s no way to sugarcoat the 1.8% same-store sales decline produced by Walmart’s U.S. stores division during the fourth quarter, especially after management vowed last fall that comps would turn positive during the period and end six quarters of negative results. Being so far off on sales guidance does not speak well of management’s forecasting abilities or grasp of the complexity issues that have contributed to sales weakness, and Wal-Mart Stores president and CEO Mike Duke acknowledged as much when he noted that “some of the pricing and merchandising issues in Walmart U.S. ran deeper than we expected, and they require a response that will take time to see results.”

The 1.8% comp decline is not only disappointing, but it also serves as a distraction from positive results elsewhere in the organization like an overgrown mole in the middle of a supermodel’s forehead. It’s just hard not to keep looking at that mole, or in Walmat’s case, a negative 1.8% comp even though the company has many other attractive features.

During Walmart’s fourth-quarter conference call, Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon said the company will pursue a four-point plan to improve its performance in existing stores. The first order of business -- and something Simon has talked about since he was appointed to his current position last summer -- is a renewed emphasis on everyday low prices, or EDLP.