Wal-Mart sales rise to $99.1 billion

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CNN

By Annalyn Censky,

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wal-Mart reported record first-quarter sales and profits Tuesday that beat analyst expectations. Shares of the world's largest retailer rose more than 2% on the news.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) posted net income of $3.3 billion, or 88 cents per share, up 10% from $3.0 billion, or 77 cents per share a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting a profit of 85 cents per share.

Sales rose 6% to $99.1 billion, which beat analysts' forecasts of $98.45 billion

While total sales were up, Wal-mart's sales at it stores open at least a year -- a key gauge of a retailer's performance known as same-store sales -- fell 1.4% in the three months ending April 30. Same-store sales rose 3.6% in the same period a year ago.


Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/18/news/companies/Walmart_earnings/