Wal-Mart lowers outlook as profit and comps decline and dollar stores do better
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Forbes] By Maggie McGrath - August 14, 2014
In the face of yet another quarter of sluggish profit and sales, superstore Wal-Mart announced Thursday morning that its full-year profit will be lower than what it had previously forecast.
And while the company is pointing to costs like investments in e-commerce and higher health care expenses in the U.S. as reason for the lowered guidance, some Wall Street analysts are pointing to the strength in dollar store chains as a reason for some of Wal-Mart’s sales struggles.
Wal-Mart president and CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement Thursday morning that he was pleased with the company’s “solid” earnings-per-share results, but added, “as it relates to our challenges in the quarter, we wanted to see stronger comps in Wal-Mart U.S. and Sam’s Club, but both reported flat comp sales. Stronger sales in the U.S. businesses would’ve also helped our profit performance.”
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