Wal-Mart earnings miss estimates; company cuts outlook

WAL-MART Stores Inc reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings and lowered its full-year forecast, sending its shares down 2.6 per cent in premarket trading on Tuesday.

Net profit attributable to Wal-Mart fell to US$3.48 billion, or US$1.08 per share, in the second quarter ended July 31 from US$4.1 billion, or US$1.21 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected US$1.12 per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

For the year ending in January, Wal-Mart lowered its earnings-per-share forecast to a range of between US$4.40 and US$4.70 from a February outlook of US$4.70 to US$5.05.

REUTERS