Is the retail sector making a comeback? Maybe that’s a little far-fetched, but at least Wal-Mart is still doing well for itself.
On Thursday, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:$WMT) posted better-than-forecasted U.S. comparable sales, due to the fact that customers were loading up on food and a variety of other types of supplies in the wake of the hurricanes that passed. Additionally, the retailer reported that online purchases also surged. To no surprise, this sent Wal-Mart’s shares up, causing the company to end Thursday’s trading day up 10.90%.
Other than that the fact that this is good news for the retail sector, which has struggled the past few months or so, this is also significant news for the company itself as the report marks Wal-Mart’s strongest U.S. sales growth since 2009.
On Thursday’s earnings call, Wal-Mart CFO Brett Biggs said that “momentum in the business is really strong,” with chief executive Greg Foran added that “food delivered its strongest quarterly performance in six years.”
Wal-Mart also disclosed that it is very close to settling a foreign-bribery probe.
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