Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) reported Thursday that the discount retailer earned a 22 percent rise in its fiscal fourth quarter despite a decline in quarterly sales, according to Associated Press.
Wal-Mart earned $4.63 billion, or $1.21 per share, in the quarter ended Jan. 31. That compares with $3.8 billion, or 96 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
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The company says that total sales rose 4.4 percent to $113.6 billion. However, sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.6 percent. That's considered an important measure of a retailer's health.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of $1.12 per share on revenue of $114.4 billion.
Wal-Mart's U.S. division had a 0.5 percent decline in total sales to $70.97 billion in the quarter; Sam's Club sales increased 3.8 percent to $12.28 billion. The company's international business enjoyed a 19.5 percent gain to $29.57 billion.
Wal-Mart's U.S. division declined the company's sales at stores open at least a year. The namesake U.S. division suffered a 2 percent drop in the measurement, while Sam's Club had a 0.7 percent increase, excluding sales from fuel. Analysts had expected sales at stores opened at least a year to be unchanged from a year ago.
The company stopped reporting sales at stores open at least a year on a monthly basis last year.
Wal-Mart also said earnings for the first quarter would be in a range of 81 cents to 85 cents, on the light side of 85 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
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