Still two-thirds controlled by Walmart, its financial performance for shareholders over the last twenty-five years has been almost equivalent to that of its American big brother - a total return of 675%, compared with 736% for Walmart.

The prospect of retaliatory customs measures raised by Donald Trump has created chaos on the Mexico City stock exchange. Those who consider this risk limited - despite the new ex-President's bluster, the US economy would shoot itself in the foot if such measures were to pass - may see this as an opportunity to buy at the sound of the gun.

Walmex was one of the first beneficiaries of the Mexican economy's impressive vitality over the last ten years. Its sales have grown from $30 billion to $52 billion, representing an annualized expansion rate of 6.3%, while maintaining - and improving - margins along the way that would make Walmart, Carrefour or 7 Eleven flinch.

The same pronounced outperformance in terms of profitability - higher than that of Walmart, which is no mean feat, and two to three times better than that of France's Carrefour. This feat is all the more remarkable in that it has been achieved with extremely low financial leverage.

A superb cash machine, Walmex distributed $2.7 billion in dividends to its shareholders last year, for a current market capitalization of $46 billion. Notably, the group adopts an opportunistic distribution pattern, mixing regular and special dividends; the latter are often higher than the former.

Despite these attributes, Walmex's valuation has plummeted in recent quarters, so that the multiples at which the stock trades are half those assigned by investors to Walmart shares. On the other hand, they remain one notch above those assigned by the same investors to Carrefour stock, which speaks volumes about the distrust of interested parties towards the French company. See Carrefour : Deep Discount.

Naturally, there is a significant currency risk to consider, as the Mexican peso depreciates more or less continuously against the US dollar. In fifteen years, it has lost half its value against the greenback. No doubt an open diplomatic conflict between Mexico and Donald Trump would not help matters.