Home Depot shares jumped higher in early Tuesday trading after the home improvement retailer posted better-than-expected third quarter earnings
Home Depot (HD) said earnings for the three months ending in October were pegged at $3.78 per share, down 1.8% from the same period last year but 13 cents ahead of the Wall Street consensus forecast. Group revenue rose 6.9% from last year to $40.22 billion, again topping analysts’ estimates of a $39.32 billion tally.
Same-store sales were down 1.3% from last year, just above Wall Street forecasts of a 3.25% decline, while comparable sales in the U.S. were down 1.2%. Average purchases slipped 0.8% per trip to $88.65, while the number of individual transactions slowed by around 0.2%.
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Looking into the 2024 fiscal year, which ends in January, Home Depot said earnings would likely decline by around 2%, compared to last year’s $15.11 per share tally. Comparable sales are seen down 2.5%, compared to its prior forecast of a decline of between 3% and 4%.
Severe weather in the southeast added to home improvement demand in October, Home Depot said.
“While macroeconomic uncertainty remains, our third quarter performance exceeded our expectations,” said CEO Ted Decker. “As weather normalized, we saw better engagement across seasonal goods and certain outdoor projects as well as incremental sales related to hurricane demand.”
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Home Depot shares, a Dow component, were marked 2.9% higher in premarket trading to indicate a Tuesday opening bell price of $419.97 each, a move that would extend the stock’s six-month gain to around 23.2%.
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