What happened Shares of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) popped nearly 12% last month, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The retail behemoth announced a massive new share-repurchase program and offered an optimistic outlook for the year ahead. So what During its annual investor day, Wal-Mart reiterated its profit forecast for fiscal 2018, including adjusted earnings per share of $4.30 to $4.40. The midpoint of that range would be up slightly from fiscal 2017's $4.32 in adjusted EPS. Looking further ahead, Wal-Mart expects EPS growth of 5% in fiscal 2019, driven by a 3% rise in sales and new cost control measures. Investors also cheered Wal-Mart's plans to repurchase $20 billion of its shares -- or about 7% of its current market cap -- over the next two years. Image source: Getty Images. Now what Wal-Mart's tremendous free cash flow generation allows it to return huge sums of capital to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks, even as it continues to invest in new growth initiatives such as its booming e-commerce operations. That's an enviable position to be in, one that should allow Wal-Mart to weather the retail apocalypse better than perhaps any other traditional retailer. As such, investors seeking a defensive, income-generating retail stock may wish to consider Wal-Mart Stores. 10 stocks we like better than Wal-Mart StoresWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Wal-Mart Stores wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of November 6, 2017Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.