Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s largest retailer, reported today its renewed focus on low prices paid off with a 4% rise in profit for its fourth quarter as holiday shoppers bought discounted groceries and home electronics as well as health and wellness products.

International growth also helped boost profit and sales. Stores in 13 countries outside the U.S. accounted for about 25% of total company sales in the quarter, up from 23% a year earlier.

Net sales grew 8.3% to $106.27 billion, helped by 18.8% international growth, 6.3% growth at Sam’s Club, and 5.0% growth at U.S. Wal-Mart stores (see chart above, click to enlarge).

“For the fourth quarter, we topped $100 billion in sales, the first time in history that any retailer has reached this milestone in a single quarter,” said Lee Scott, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. president and chief executive officer. “We had a very strong underlying operating performance, exceeding our expectations for the quarter. In addition to another year of record sales and earnings, we also delivered a record return to our shareholders this year through more than $11 billion in share repurchase and dividends.”

Comment: Another example of a U.S. corporation reporting record sales and profits, partly because of strong global sales. Also, Wal-Mart’s record quarterly sales of $106 billion includes sales through January 2008, suggesting that consumer spending remains healthy through the first month of this year, suggesting that we are not in recession.

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