Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer and a bellwether for the entire industry, posted better-than-expected earnings on Thursday, though sales at stores open at least a year fell slightly amid the tough economy. For the three months ended Oct. 31, Wal-Mart had net income of $3.24 billion, or 84 cents a share, up from $3.14 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $99.4 billion from $98.3 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 81 cents a share on $99.9 billion
But sales at Wal-Mart stores open at least a year in the United States, a measure of retail health known as same-store sales, fell 0.4 percent, not including the impact of fuel. For the same period a year ago, same-store sales increased 2.5 percent. The company attributed the decline solely to falling prices. In a recorded call, Eduardo Castro-Wright, who oversees Wal-Mart’s United States operations, said the same-store sales results were “driven by price deflation that was well beyond what we had expected, across many food categories, as well as electronics. The food categories hurt most were meat, produce and dairy; Wal-Mart said it does not expect food deflation to abate until the end of the first quarter next year.
