Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) released its fiscal first-quarter financial results Tuesday before the markets opened. The retail giant had $1.03 in earnings per share (EPS) on $114.83 billion in revenue. That compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $1.04 in EPS on revenue of $116.30 billion. In the first quarter of last year, the retail giant posted EPS of $1.10 and $114.96 billion in revenue.
For the fiscal second quarter of 2016, Wal-Mart expects $1.06 to $1.18 in EPS and comparable sales to increase 1%. The consensus estimates for the period are $1.17 in EPS on $121.29 billion in revenue.
In the United States, the company had growth in comparable store sales of 1.1% in the fiscal first quarter. This includes positive traffic for the second consecutive quarter. At the same time, e-commerce sales increased globally by roughly 17%.
Wal-Mart paid $1.6 billion in dividends this quarter, versus $1.5 million in the same period of the previous year. The company also had $280 million in share repurchases in the first fiscal quarter of 2016, compared to $626 million last year.
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Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart, commented on earnings:
We had a solid first quarter. We took some important strategic steps to strengthen the foundation of our business for the future. We need to continue to get better at consistently running great stores, clubs and e-commerce everywhere we operate … and we are.
Return on investment was 16.6% during this quarter, compared to the same period of the previous year, which had 16.7%.
The company had $7.76 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first fiscal quarter. The fourth quarter from the 2015 fiscal year had $9.14 billion.
In terms of the global headwinds that Wal-Mart faced this quarter, Charles Holley, chief financial officer of Wal-Mart, said:
Based on our views of the global macro-economic environment, and assuming currency exchange rates remain at current levels, we expect second quarter fiscal 2016 earnings per share to range between $1.06 and $1.18. Our second quarter guidance includes the impact of approximately $0.04 per share from our previously announced investments in both U.S. associate wages and training, as well as $0.04 per share from currency.
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Shares of Wal-Mart closed Monday up 0.9% at $79.92. Following the release of the earnings report, shares were down 2.5% at $77.90 in Tuesday’s premarket trading. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $84.39 and a 52-week trading range of $72.61 to $90.97.
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