Wal-Mart's first-quarter profit is a positive surprise

The world's largest retail company, the Wal-Mart performed over the market expectations, primarily due to the good indicators of foreign sales, which offseted the weak domestic market performance.

The company's after tax profit was 3.32 billion USD in the business quarter ended with the 30th of April, compared to the 3.02 billion USD result of a year earlier. Earnings per share were 88 cents, while 84 cents were expected by the analysts. The company's revenue increased by almost 6 percent to 99.85 billion USD, after last year's financial quarter of a 98.45 billion billion USD – reports MTI.