Wal-Mart’s Earnings Rise 8%

Company Warns on Lower 2Q Profit
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Bruce Andrew Peters

Wal-Mart Stores’ first-quarter profit rose 8% but the company warned that its second-quarter profit may be short of expectations, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The retail giant earned $2.83 billion or 68 cents a share, up from $2.62 billion or 64 cents a year ago.

Revenue rose to $86.41 billion for the quarter ended April 30, up from $79.7 billion last year.

Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott said the company will focus on low prices this summer in a bid to rekindle sales in U.S. stores, AP said.



Same-store sales rose 0.6% in the first quarter at the company’s U.S. stores, the weakest level since Wal-Mart began reporting the quarterly figure in 2003, AP reported.

Wal-Mart, with a fleet of about 7,100 trucks and 44,500 trailers, is ranked No. 2 in the Transport Topics Private 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian private fleets.