Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said on Tuesday that its earnings have risen by 11.5 percent in the third quarter.

For the three months ending on Oct. 31, Wal-Mart's net income totaled 2.65 billion U.S. dollars, or 63 cents per share, compared with 2.37 billion dollars, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier, the retailer said in a statement.

Its net sales totaled 83.5 billion dollars in the third quarter, up 12 percent from 74.6 billion dollars a year ago.

It expects earnings per share from continuing operations for the fourth quarter to be between 88 cents and 92 cents, resulting in a full-year forecast for earnings per share of 2.85 dollars to 2.89 dollars.

But in the United States, Wal-Mart's sales in stores opened at least one year, which is a closely watched performance gauge called same-store sales, rose by just 0.5 percent in October after gains of 1.3 percent in September and 2.7 percent in August.

"Although sales in the U.S. were softer than we hoped for in the third quarter, there are real opportunities in the fourth quarter to build on the momentum of the aggressive pricing strategy we have implemented in our stores for the holiday season, " Wal-Mart's Chief Executive Lee Scott said.

To fuel the year-end business, the retailer started offering discounts in mid-October by cutting toy prices. This month, it offered discounts on sales of electronics and small appliances and promised more discounts to come.

Source: Xinhua