Wal-Mart's 1Q Profit Tops Expecations as Sales Rise

By Sarah Nassauer and Anne Steele 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported stronger quarterly sales Thursday, showing that the world's largest retailer is drawing shoppers at a time when many competitors are reeling in the era of Amazon.com Inc.

Wal-Mart's U.S. same-store sales rose 1.4% for the fiscal first quarter -- the 11th straight quarterly increase -- due to a 1.5% rise in foot traffic, thanks in part to improvements Wal-Mart has made in its stores. However, profit fell 1.3% in the quarter, as the retailer continued making investments to compete with online retailers and discounters by lowering prices, raising wages and expanding e-commerce services.

Shares in the company added 0.8% premarket to $75.75.

The company's stable sales are a marked contrast with many department-store retailers and competitors including Target Corp., which reported lower sales Wednesday.

Wal-Mart also reported higher sales over the winter holiday season. But those gains are being supported by heavy investments, including buying up e-commerce companies, expanded online inventory and investments to speed up shipping times.

During the first quarter, U.S. e-commerce sales surged 63%, boosted by the purchases of online retailer Jet.com in September and smaller e-commerce sites ModCloth, Moosejaw and ShoeBuy earlier this year. Global e-commerce sales rose 7% from a year ago.

"We need to scale our e-commerce business further and see some additional strength in our store comps to deliver the results we know we're capable of," said Wal-Mart Chief Executive Doug McMillon.

In all for the April period, Wal-Mart earned $3.04 billion, or $1.00 a share, compared with $3.08 billion, or 98 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue increased 1.4% to $117.54 billion. Excluding currency headwinds the company said revenue would have climbed to $118.8 billion. Analysts, polled by Thomson Reuters, were looking for earnings of 96 cents a share on $117.74 billion in revenue.

Wal-Mart said operating, selling, general and administrative expenses grew 2.2% during the quarter. Its cost of sales rose 1.3%.

For the current quarter, the company guided for earnings of $1.00 to $1.08 a share, including a 5-cent tax benefit from the sale of the company's apparel format in Mexico. Analysts, on average, are looking for Wal-Mart to earn $1.07 a share.

"The first quarter was a solid quarter for Wal-Mart on multiple fronts as margins held steady despite the myriad ongoing investments in people, technology and price," said Moody's analyst Charlie O'Shea.

Write to Sarah Nassauer at [e-mail] and Anne Steele at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2017 08:16 ET (12:16 GMT)

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