NEW YORK: An employee works on a holiday display at a Wal-Mart store in Secaucus, New Jersey. Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported slightly stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings yesterday as it booked its fifth straight gain in US same-store sales.
However, the company also said that it expected sales at stores open at least a year to grow more slowly during the current holiday quarter and that business would be competitive.
Net profit attributable to the world’s largest retailer fell to US$3.3 billion, or US$1.03 per share, in the third quarter ended on October 31 from US$3.7 billion, or US$1.15 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected 98 US cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.
