Retailers Report Strong April Sales
Updated from 10:46 a.m. EDT
Retailers surprised Wall Street to the upside Thursday, as
Wal-Mart
(WMT) - Get Report
,
Costco
(COST) - Get Report
and several big names reported rising April sales.
Wal-Mart said April same-store sales climbed 3.2% last month, excluding fuel sales, a result that topped expectations. Total sales for the month climbed 9.8% to $29.18 billion. Shares were recently up 1% to $57.39.
Costco said comps were up 8% last month. Its shares were flat on the day at $72.09.
BJ's Wholesale
(BJ) - Get Report
had an increase of 17.8% in comps and
Gap
(GPS) - Get Report
was also a positive, lifting its first-quarter profit forecast. Those two stocks were down 2.44% and 0.77%, respectively.
On the down side,
Limited
(LTD)
had a same-store sales decline of 5%. Its shares are up on the day, at $17.90.
Elsewhere in retail,
Best Buy
(BBY) - Get Report
was off 88 cents, to $42.57. The retailer said it is investing $2.1 billion for a 50% stake in The Carphone Warehouse, Europe's largest cell phone retailer.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.