NEW YORK — Walmart reported disappointing fourth-quarter profits and sales after a sluggish holiday shopping season.

Violent social protests in Chile, where there are hundreds of Walmart stores, cut into international sales.

Walmart also delivered a weak profit forecast for the year and a rare quarterly miss, its worst in about five years. “We started and finished the quarter with momentum, while sales leading up to Christmas in our U.S. stores were a little softer than expected,” said CEO Doug McMillon.

Walmart is the first major retailer to report fiscal fourth-quarter results. The performance underscores a multitude of challenges that retailers faced this holiday season as they try to better compete with online juggernaut Amazon. The discounter said that U.S. sales at stores opened at least 12 months rose just 1.9 percent for the holiday quarter, a slowdown from the previous period. The company joined other retailers who reported disappointing holiday sales last month.