Wal-Mart's Ho-Hum 3Q Report Sparks Some Selling

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) hits the high end of F3Q EPS guidance amid continued traffic growth at its domestic namesake stores while Sam's Club same-store sales showed some life as average purchase sizes increased 1.9%. Shares, though, are easing premarket as perhaps investors were hoping for more after Target's (NYSE:TGT) noted beat-and-raise yesterday. WMT merely raises the low end of FY EPS guidance while projecting 1.0-1.5% SSS growth at both Wal-Marts and Sam's domestically. When you're as big as WMT, it's hard to surprise to the upside--the post-2Q jump notwithstanding. Shares fall 1.4% to $70.36 after lagging retail stocks with just a 2% increase this month.