Wal-Mart's Stock Drops After Profit, Sales Miss Expectations

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s stock dropped 2% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the world's largest retailer missed fiscal first-quarter profit and sales expectations. For the quarter ended April 30, earnings fell to $3.34 billion, or $1.03 a share, from $3.59 billion, or $1.11 a share, in the same period a year ago. That was below the FactSet consensus for earnings per share of $1.04. Revenue declined 0.1% to $114.83 billion from $114.96 billion, missing the FactSet consensus for rise to $116.1 billion. Wal-Mart said currency translation reduced revenue by $3.3 billion. Same-store sales for Walmart U.S. increased 1.1%. For the second quarter, Wal-Mart expects earnings of $1.06 to $1.18 a share, compared with the FactSet EPS consensus of $1.17, and Walmart U.S. same-store sales growth of around 1%. The stock has lost 6.9% year to date through Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 2.7%.