Wal-Mart Reaffirms 2017 Outlook, Sees Little Growth To 2018

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT fell in pre-market trading after the company guided flat EPS for the fiscal year 2018. The company, however, reaffirmed its forecast for the fiscal year 2017.

The retailer will also be outlining its strategic framework during the investment community meeting on Thursday. The company indicated the following four key focus areas for continuing its success:

• Make shopping easier for buy families
• Disciplined operation with a focus on cost management
• Most trust retailer
• Place the company to win to deliver results

Wal-Mart reaffirmed its adjusted EPS guidance of $4.15-$4.35 and GAAP EPS of $4.29-$4.49 for the fiscal year 2017.

While projecting GAAP EPS to be relatively flat in fiscal year 2018, the company expects to deliver about 5 percent growth in EPS in fiscal year 2019. The company expects to spend on e-commerce to accelerate growth in the sector.

President and CEO, Doug McMillon, commented, "We are encouraged by the progress we're seeing across our business and we're moving with speed to position the company to win the future of retail. Our customers want us to run great stores, provide a great e-commerce experience and find ways to save them money and time seamlessly - so that's what we're doing."

The stock fell $1.54, or 2.15 percent, to $70.00 in the pre-market trading.

Image: Mike Mozart, Flickr