(FORTUNE Magazine) – As Sam Walton's daughter, Alice Walton, 41, naturally tried retailing -- guess where -- but found she liked investing and stock picking better. ''I love numbers,'' she says. Now Walton runs Llama Co. -- named for the pet a friend once gave her as a surprise gift -- a fledgling Fayetteville, Arkansas, investment firm just 20 miles down Highway 71 from Wal-Mart's Bentonville headquarters. This year Llama has underwritten $515 million worth of deals, up from $310 million in the first six months of 1990. Most were municipal financings for state and local agencies in Arkansas and Texas, a less profitable line of business than corporate finance. Still, Walton fille has won a small following. James Mulvaney, chairman of the California Higher Education Loan Authority, initially had his doubts: ''I thought, 'Here is a wealthy woman. I hope this isn't a play toy.' '' Now he regularly relies on Llama to securitize student loans. Besides money, Alice has inherited something else from her billionaire dad -- his downhome taste in vehicles. She sometimes drives to work in one of her two pickup trucks.