date:Sep 13, 2013
and invest in its stores and operations.
Its total sales rose 4.6 percent to $22.7 billion, including fuel for the quarter that ended August 17. Excluding fuel, sales were up 3.9 percent.
Net income increased to $317 million, or 60 cents per share, from $279 million, or 51 cents, a year earlier, on lower expenses in the latest quarter.
Identical-store sales - which include results from stores open without expansion or relocation for five full quarters and are used to gauge a grocer's perform