Wal-Mart Tops Quarterly Forecasts; Same-Store Sales Rise 3.1%
Wal-Mart Stores
(WMT) - Get Walmart Inc. Report
posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' lowered expectations by a penny, thanks to a 3.1% rise in same-store sales for the quarter.
The Bentonville, Ark., retailer said fourth-quarter earnings were $2 billion, or 45 cents a share, compared with $1.9 billion, or 43 cents a share, in the same period last year. According to a poll by
First Call/Thomson Financial
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, 22 analysts expected fourth-quarter earnings of 44 cents a share.
Sales for the quarter were $56.6 billion, up from $51.4 billion last year.
"It was a good year but a year that was not quite up to our high Wal-Mart expectations. In a difficult economic environment, we will spend almost $9 billion in capital expenditures and add approximately 8% to our retail square footage," the company said.
Wal-Mart closed at $52.36 in Friday trading on the
New York Stock Exchange
, near the middle of its 52-week range of $41.40 to $64.90.
