Dive Brief:
- Wal-Mart lowered its earnings guidance for the remainder of the year to $4.90-$5.15 a share from $5.10-$5.45.
- The world's largest retailer cited unexpectedly higher healthcare costs for employees in the United States, and planned investments in its online operations for the lower forecast.
- The announcement came as Wal-Mart reported a rise in global revenue, but a continuing lack of growth in same-store sales.
Dive Insight:
When same-store sales are flat, it's generally awful news for a retailer. But in Wal-Mart's case, same-store sales have fallen consecutively in the five previous quarters.
Now all eyes turn to Wal-Mart's smaller-format stores, which the retailer is investing in heavily with the hope of finding some real growth.
