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Wal-Mart profit gains
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August 11, 1998: 8:47 a.m. ET
Retailer beats Street 2Q forecasts, cites strong earnings across units
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported second-quarter earnings Tuesday of $1.03 billion, topping Wall Street forecasts.
Wal-Mart's earnings equaled 46 cents a share, beating First Call estimates of 43 cents a share for the quarter. The nation's largest retailer posted revenue of $33.5 billion, an 18 percent increase from the $28.4 billion a year earlier.
A year earlier, earnings totaled $795 million, or 35 cents a share.
In addition to the flagship Wal-Mart stores, the company operates the Sam's Club chain of office-supply warehouses.
"Each of our operating divisions reported increased operating income as a percent of sales and surpassed their own aggressive plans," said David Glass, Wal-Mart president and chief executive officer.
Glass added that Wal-Mart expects third-quarter results to be in line with or slightly better than current Wall Street estimates.
For the first half , Wal-Mart earned $1.86 billion, or 83 cents a share, on sales of $63.3 billion. That beat 1997 first-half figures across the board, when the company reported a profit of $1.45 billion, or 64 cents a share, on $53.8 billion in sales.
"We are excited about the earnings growth achieved in the first half of the year, but temper our enthusiasm for the second half purely because we face strong comparisons resulting from last year's solid performance," Glass said.
Wal-Mart (WMT) shares closed at 63-1/16, up 3/16 in Monday trading. 
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Wal - Mart
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