<p>Wal-Mart Stores has lowered its expectations for the company’s fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 financial results provided in its third quarter report from November. Chief Financial Officer, Charles Holley, reviewed the details of new discrete items affecting the fourth quarter when revising the forecast. Among the new elements to consider were an estimated 50 store closures between Brazil and China markets as well as terminated franchise and supply agreements related to retail stores in India. The company reported it also expects to record additional charges related to employment claims for Walmart Brazil. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Another contributing factor involved eight winter storms causing Wal-Mart U.S. store closures that impacted traffic throughout the quarter. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“Sam’s Club was also impacted by the weather throughout the quarter,” Holley added.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Sam’s Club is also implementing a new in-club leadership and staff structure to better align domestic club teams with the sales volume of each club. A charge for severance and related costs are expected. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“We now anticipate that our underlying EPS for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 will be at or slightly below the low end of our range of $1.60 to $1.70,” said Charles Holley, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. chief financial officer. “For the full year, we expect underlying EPS to be at or slightly below the low end of our range of $5.11 to $5.21."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“Today, we are providing updated information on previously disclosed items, as well as new additional discrete items that were not anticipated when we provided our fourth quarter and full year guidance. These discrete items will impact EPS results for the fourth quarter and the year,” Holley continued.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">During November’s report, Wal-Mart had provided fourth quarter diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (EPS) guidance of $1.50 to $1.60, which included a $0.10 per share impact from two discrete items, which resulted in an underlying EPS guidance range of $1.60 to $1.70, according to a press release. For the full year, Wal-Mart expected to deliver EPS of $5.01 to $5.11 and accounting for the $0.10 of discrete items for the full year as well.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The company will issue its detailed financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2014 and its expectations for fiscal year 2015 on Thurs., Feb. 20, 2014 at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://stock.walmart.com" target="_new"> Wal-Mart </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
