BENTONVILLE, Ark., April 12 -- Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc. (NYSE: WMT) reported net sales for the five-week and nine-week periods
ending Apr. 6, 2007, and Apr. 7, 2006 , respectively, as follows (dollars in
billions):
5 Weeks Ended 9 Weeks Ended
Percent Percent
4-6-2007 4-7-2006 Change 4-6-2007 4-7-2006 Change
Wal-Mart
Stores $22.116 $20.170 9.6 % $39.689 $36.808 7.8 %
Sam's Club 4.156 3.816 8.9 % 7.315 6.848 6.8 %
International 7.983 6.689 19.3 % 14.045 11.796 19.1 %
Total
Company $34.255 $30.675 11.7 % $61.049 $55.452 10.1 %
Comparable sales for the periods ending Apr. 6, 2007, and Apr. 7, 2006,
were as follows:
5 Weeks Ended 9 Weeks Ended
4-6-2007 4-7-2006 4-6-2007 4-7-2006
Wal-Mart
Stores 3.4 % 1.6 % 2.1 % 2.5 %
Sam's Club 7.4 % 4.8 % 5.7 % 4.7 %
Total U.S. 4.0 % 2.1 % 2.6 % 2.8 %
Wal-Mart Stores Division
For the March five-week period, grocery sales at Wal-Mart Stores were strong, particularly in food and dry grocery. Produce, dairy and bakery did well. The prescription side of pharmacy had comparable store sales in the mid teens, as consumers continue to respond to the Company's $4 generic program. Consumer purchases also were strong in toys and lawn and garden.
While overall home and apparel are soft, sales improved in girls' wear and spring seasonal apparel as the temperatures warmed.
Comparable store sales for March were driven by the strength in average ticket. Customer transactions in the Company's comparable stores showed improvement from the prior month's results.
Sam's Club
Sam's Club strengths for the March reporting period included food, consumables and electronics. Seasonal categories also did well, due to the warmer weather and the positive reception to the Sam's Club spring catalog, which was available to members the last week of March. Business member traffic continued to be up, with positive results in key business categories.
Guidance
The Company expects comparable sales in the U.S. for the April four-week reporting period to be flat to down 2 percent, due to the Easter calendar shift and April 2006 being our strongest monthly comparable store sales increase last year at 5.0 percent, said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer. Sales for the March/April nine-week reporting period combined are estimated to be between 1 and 2 percent. The comparable sales increase for the related nine-week period of March/April last year was 3.4 percent.
"Earnings per share from continuing operations for the first quarter of fiscal year 2008 were estimated to be $0.68 to $0.71," said Schoewe. "While the earnings guidance is still attainable, given the tough sales environment for the April period, it will be a challenge."
Detail on Comparable Sales Fuel Impact
Comparable sales that are presented in this release exclude the impact of fuel sales in the Company's Sam's Club segment. Fuel sales impacted the Sam's Club and total U.S. comparable sales figures for the five-week period ending Apr. 6, 2007, by -0.6 and zero percentage points, respectively, and impacted the nine-week period by -0.5 and zero percentage points, respectively. Including the impact of fuel sales, the Sam's Club and total U.S. comparable sales figures for the five-week period ending Apr. 6, 2007, would have been 6.8 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively, and for the nine-week period would have been 5.2 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart discount stores, supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club locations in the United States. The Company operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. The Company's securities are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WMT. More information about Wal-Mart can be found by visiting www.walmartstores.com. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com.
This release contains statements that Wal-Mart believes are "forward- looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are intended to enjoy the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by that act. These forward- looking statements include statements as to our management's expectation and estimate of comparable sales for the April four-week and March/April reporting periods, the tough sales environment during the April reporting period, and management's expectation of earnings per share from continuing operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2008. These statements are identified by use of the words "expects" and "will be" or the phrase "were estimated" in the statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, domestically and internationally, including consumer spending patterns and debt levels, unemployment levels, fuel prices, inflation levels, weather conditions, competitive pressures and other risks. We discuss certain of these matters and other risk factors more fully in our filings with the SEC, including our last Annual Report on Form 10-K. This release should be read in conjunction with that Annual Report on Form 10-K and certain other of our filings with the SEC through the date of this release.
We urge you to consider all of these risks, uncertainties and other factors carefully in evaluating these forward-looking statements and not to place undue reliance on such statements. As a result of these and other matters, including changes in facts, assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update the forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
SOURCE Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
-0- 04/12/2007
/CONTACT: Investor Relations, +1-479-273-8446, or Carol Schumacher,
+1-479-277-1498, or Pauline Tureman, +1-479-277-9558, or media relations, John
Simley, +1-800-331-0085, all of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc./
/Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010831/WALMARTLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com /
/Web site: http://www.walmartstores.com
http://www.walmart.com
http://www.samsclub.com /
(WMT)
CO: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
ST: Arkansas
IN: REA SUP
SU: SLS ERP
JO-GF
-- DATH011A --
4656 04/12/2007 07:58 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
