The world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart (WMT) announced on Tuesday that its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter net profit dropped 15%, but the performance of the U.S. business continued rebounding, benefitted from the growth in passenger traffic during the critical holiday shopping season.
As of the quarter ended January 31, the company’s net profit declined from a year earlier of $6.05 billion, or $1.70 per share to $5.16 billion, or $1.50 per share.
The continuing operation Earnings per share increased to $1.51 from $1.41 a year earlier. Excluding the earnings of 7 cents per share from a specific item, the adjusted earnings per share was $1.44, lower than the analysts’ average expectation of $1.46, according to the survey by Factset Research.
Net sales increased 5.8% to $122.29 billion. Including membership fees and other incomes, gross income increased $116.36 billion from a year earlier to $123.17 billion, falling short of the analysts’ average expectation of $123.9 billion.
The U.S. sector’s same-store sales added 1.5%, which was the second consecutive quarterly growth.
Wal-Mart forecasted continuing operation earnings per share of $1.01-$1.06 in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 and $4.72-$4.92 throughout the full year.
As of release, the WMT stock price fell $2.41, or 3.86% in the Tuesday morning trading.