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Excluding special items, earnings per share came to 98 cents in
the first quarter ended on April 29, exceeding the analysts'
average estimate of 88 cents, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.
Wal-Mart said sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 1.0
percent, excluding fuel price fluctuations. That marked the
seventh straight quarterly rise and was stronger than market
expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent, according to
research firm Consensus Metrix.
The company's performance bucked a string of weak results by
competitors. On Wednesday, rival Target Corp <TGT.N> gave a
cautious outlook and reported a lower-than-expected rise in
quarterly sales due to unseasonable weather and soft demand.
The relatively upbeat results suggest Wal-Mart may be benefiting
from its $2.7 billion investment to increase entry-level wages
and in training of its workforce. It said customer service
scores were improving and that store visits rose 1.5 percent in
the quarter.
"Overall a pretty strong quarter," Chief Financial Officer Brett
Biggs said in an interview. “We are very pleased with the
traffic increases, and I think that goes along with what we are
seeing with customer experience scores that continue to
improve.”
Quarterly revenue rose 0.9 percent to $115.9 billion despite a
$3.5 billion hit from a stronger dollar, which reduces the value
of overseas sales.
Operating income dropped 7.1 percent to $5.3 billion, reflecting
the impact of boosting the company's minimum wage to $10 an hour
and investing in automated warehouses dedicated to filling
online orders.
On the negative side, online sales growth again decelerated, to
7 percent in the first quarter from 8 percent, 10 percent, 16
percent and 17 percent in the previous periods.
Biggs said e-commerce sales grew faster in the U.S. market than
overseas, but the overall performance fell short of its
objectives. Wal-Mart has recently suffered from sluggish online
demand in China and Brazil.
Shares of Wal-Mart were trading at $68.15 before the market
opened, up from Wednesday's close of $63.15.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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