For many years, the large retail firm Walmart chose not to provide guidance. The firm’s legendary founder, Sam Walton, wrote in his autobiography that he did not care what the market thought. Beginning in 1994, Walmart’s earnings announcements generated a string of negative surprises. In the resulting post-earnings- announcement drift, Walmart’s cumulative abnormal return relative to the S&P 500 drifted down for the subsequent four years. Walmart’s situation changed dramatically in 1998. An article appearing in Fortune magazine described Walmart stock as being hot again and noted that the reason stemmed from earnings. The article described Walmart as having applied its “Main Street marketing skills” to its interactions with Wall Street analysts. Discuss what it means to apply Main Street marketing skills.