Walmart Stores' (WMT) - Get Report deteriorating financial performance and falling stock price have increased the possibility that the discount giant may look to spin off its Sam's Club unit to its shareholders to help boost performance.

Such a spinoff would allow each of the struggling chains to better focus on reviving growth independent of each other.

But what would a Sam's Club free of its parent be worth?

With about $58 billion in net sales as of Jan. 31, and operating income a bit less than $2 billion, the Sam Club's division of the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant is about half the size of rival Costco Wholesale (COST) - Get Report .

Plus, the unit has total assets of close to $14 billion, which includes real estate, equipment and fixtures.

Regulatory filings list operating income of nearly $2 billion plus depreciation and amortization of about $600 million for Sam's Club, which would result in a rough Ebitda estimate of $2.6 billion as of Jan. 31.

Issaquah, Wash.-based rival Costco has an enterprise value of nearly $68.1 billion as of the end of its most recent fiscal year on Aug. 30, while adjusted Ebitda was close to $4.8 billion, according to data provided by Bloomberg. That equates to a multiple of almost 14.2 times Ebitda.

Sam's Club does not perform at quite the level of a Costco, so it would likely trade at a lower multiple, perhaps closer to 12 times, which might give the unit an enterprise value of around $31 billion. Perhaps some of the $14 billion in assets could be monetized.

The enterprise value of Sam's Club would be a little more than 10% of Walmart's entire enterprise value of $229.5 billion, accounting for a market cap of $187.9 billion, cash and cash equivalents of about $5.7 billion and long-term debt and capital lease obligations of approximately $47.3 billion.

Industry analysts have argued both sides of the coin -- that Sam's Club is too integrated to be separated or should be separate because there are few synergies between the two businesses.

The main point remains that both businesses are struggling, with Sam's Club in particular a drag on Walmart's earnings. Creating two independent companies, the argument goes, would free both to concentrate their focus and financial firepower.

One industry analyst, however, said that a separation of Sam's Club, if it were to occur, would take time, money and patience.

To further boost the scale of a liberated Sam's Club, the company could seek to acquire BJ's Wholesale Club, which is owned by private equity firms Leonard Green and CVC Capital Partners.

The two firms have already more than recovered the equity invested into the discounter, and have owned it since 2011, making it ripe for a sale.

Westborough, Mass.-based BJ's Wholesale has revenue in the neighborhood of $14 billion and has done well enough to support two dividend recapitalizations valued at nearly $1.1 billion to its owners.

The added revenue and cash flow would further bolster Sam's Club ability to compete with Costco.