NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a gain Thursday in a key sales measure for June that was in line with its previously stated expectations and easily outdistanced flat to lower sales among its nearest competitors.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said sales at stores open at least a year, a closely watched retail measure known as comparable or same-store sales, rose 2.7 percent for the five-week period ended July 4. The company's earlier guidance had been for a same-store sales increase of 2 to 4 percent.

The company said it also expects July same-store sales to be up 2 to 4 percent, although given current momentum it now expects to come in at the higher end of that range.

The gain is slower than year-earlier results, when it posted a 7.9 rise in same-store sales. Still, the gain in June was bit ahead of the year-to-date gain in same-store sales of 2.5 percent.

Overall sales at the Bentonville, Ark.-based discounter rose 11.1 percent to $24.6 billion for the period.

No. 2 retailer Target Corp. reported a 0.8 percent rise in same-store sales in the five-week period ending July 5, while overall sales gained 7.9 percent. The Minneapolis retailer said its Target and Marshall Field's stores were on plan, while results were disappointing at its Mervyn's unit. But it said it expects to earn either 39 or 40 cents a share in the second quarter, up from 38 cents a share, and roughly in line with analysts' consensus forecast of 40 cents a share.

No. 3 retailer Sears Roebuck & Co. reported that same-store sales fell 1.8 percent in the United States in the five-weeks ended July 5, as overall domestic store revenue slipped to $2.6 billion from $2.7 billion a year earlier. The company said the results were in line with expectations.

J.C. Penney Co. reported basically flat same-store sales in the period, and warned that its fiscal second-quarter loss would be about the same as a year ago, which was 5 cents a share. That would be worse than the 2 cent a share loss expected by analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call.

Penney posted a 0.1 percent gain in comparable department store sales and a 0.9 percent drop in same-store sales for its Eckerd drug store division. It said that while profits are above year-ago levels in its department store and catalog division, they are lagging year-ago levels in the Eckerd unit.

Federated Department Stores, which operates chains including Macy's and Bloomingdale's, said its same-store sales fell 2.0 percent in June, while its overall sales decreased 2.2 percent. The company had said it expected June sales to be down between 1 and 2 percent, and it said it expects the same range of decline in July sales.

Shares of Wal-Mart (WMT: Research, Estimates), a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, lost 94 cents to $55.76 Wednesday, while shares of Sears (S: Research, Estimates) lost 64 cents to $34.26 and J.C. Penney (JCP: Research, Estimates) fell 23 cents to $16.72.