Cash Burning a Hole in Wal-Mart's Pocket?

Meanwhile, the company has struggled making in-roads overseas, especially in its German and Asian operations, notes Hastings.

As Wal-Mart's same-store sales slow, the company is "looking at a different expense and growth structure long term" than it had in the past, Hastings said.

"They're going to need to spend more money changing existing stores," he said. "Wal-Mart needs to concentrate on pure retail right now."

Slater takes the company at face value when it says it sold off McLane to help it focus on retail. While McLane helped Wal-Mart set up its grocery operations in its supercenters in the 1990s, Wal-Mart has the ability to serve those grocery operations without McLane now, he said.

"The need for McLane was low. It was likely more of a distraction than a need at this point," Slater said.

But while McLane may have been a distraction for Wal-Mart, Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting, thinks Berkshire got a diamond in the rough.

Although distributors get a bad rap for being in low-margin businesses, that charge doesn't necessarily apply to McLane, Fein said. McLane's core business, other than serving Wal-Mart, is distributing goods to thousands of small retail operators. Those companies are willing to pay for services such as warehousing, stocking and credit for which Wal-Mart had little need, he said.

Meanwhile, once McLane gets out from under Wal-Mart's roof, it likely will have better opportunities. Many retailers were likely reluctant to deal with a distributor owned by their biggest competitor, Fein said.

"I think Warren Buffett got a great buy," Fein said.