Wal-Mart Hits New 52-Week Highs As Q1 Impresses Investors

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT were trading higher by more than 3 percent early Thursday morning after the company reported first-quarter results. Should the stock hold on to its pre-market gains, it will open above its prior 52-week high of $77.05.

Wal-Mart reported earned $1.00 per share in the quarter on revenue of $117.5 billion; Analysts were expecting the world's largest retailer to earn $0.96 per share on revenue of $117.7 billion.

Operating income on a constant currency basis rose 1.3 percent from the same quarter a year ago to $5.343 billion as U.S., partially aided by a 1.4 percent increase in U.S. comps and a 1.5 percent increase in traffic.

By segment, Wal-Mart U.S. sales rose 2.9 percent from a year ago to $75.436 billion, Wal-Mart International sales fell 3.5 percent to $27.097 billion, and Sam's Club sales rose 2.8 percent to $13.993 billion.

Wal-Mart also generated $5.4 billion in operating cash flow in the quarter, returned $1.549 billion in dividends to shareholders and repurchased $2.185 billion worth of its own stock.

Looking forward to the fiscal second quarter, Wal-Mart guided its earnings per share to a range of $1.00 to $1.08, while analysts were already modeling an earnings per share of $1.07.

"We delivered a solid first quarter and we're encouraged by the start to the year," Doug McMillon, President and CEO, Walmart said. "We're moving faster to combine our digital and physical assets to make shopping simple and easy for customers. Our plan is gaining traction, and I want to thank our associates for their hard work, ingenuity and commitment to our customers. Our customers have choices, and we have to earn their business with every interaction."

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Image: Mike Mozart, Flickr