Wal-Mart Shares Down as Profit Projections Fall Short
At the end of last week the biggest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., released a statement saying its same-store sales were stagnant during the three months ending August 1st. Furthermore, the company reduced its full-year earnings forecast due to bigger health-care expenses and additional investments made in its e-commerce business.
Wal-Mart Stores shares are falling after the company released a statement reducing its full-year earnings forecast.
In recent months the company has been focusing on investing in e-commerce and smaller stores as it has struggled to support its bottom line while home-market sales have fallen. The company has not posted same-store sales gains for six straight quarters and there has been a steady decline in US store traffic.
Wal-Mart Stores has said its earnings for the year ending January 31st will be between $4.90 and $5.15 per share.
This is lower than the initial projection of between $5.10 and $5.45 per share.
After the statement was released shares were down 0.16%. The last year has seen the company’s shares fall 3.26% and now the company is valued at $238.65 billion. Information released at the end of the week showed that 22 analysts offering a 12-month price forecast for the company had a median target of $81.50 with a high estimate of $90 and a low estimate of $66. The median estimate is a 10.09% increase from the last price of $74.03.
