Shares of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) surged 9.6% last Thursday, after the retail giant reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter. Earnings per share came in $0.98, beating the average analyst estimate of $0.88. That was also better than Wal-Mart’s own guidance for EPS of $0.80 to $0.95.
The earnings beat showed that there is still a place for Wal-Mart in today’s retail landscape. That said, the company still isn’t producing the kind of revenue growth it would need to drive a sustainable return to strong earnings growth.