Home Depot Inc. on Tuesday boosted its profit and sales guidance
for the year as the home-improvement retailer benefits from
recovery in the housing market.
Home Depot is now expecting per-share earnings of $5.24 to
$5.27, up from its February forecast for $5.11 to $5.17 in
earnings. The company forecast sales growth of 4.2% to 4.8%,
compared with its previous call for 3.5% to 4.7% growth.
Home Depot and peer Lowe's Cos. have been helped lately by the
improving housing market and homeowners' need to renovate.
"We had a stronger than expected start to the year as we
experienced a more normal spring across much of the country and
continued recovery of the U.S. housing market," said Chief
Executive Craig Menear in a news release.
For the quarter ended May 3, Home Depot posted same-store sales
growth of 6.1%, excluding newly opened or closed stores.
U.S. stores posted 7.1% growth, while total customer
transactions rose 4.6%. Average ticket rose 1.8% to $58.60.
Overall, the company reported earnings of $1.58 billion, or
$1.21 a share, up from $1.38 billion, or $1 a share, a year
earlier. Results were helped by a $71 million tax audit
settlement.
Net sales grew 6.1% to $20.9 billion.
Analysts had expected earnings of $1.15 a share and revenue of
$20.8 billion.
Home Depot also has had to contend with the aftermath of a
widespread data breach last year. The company has said it faces
several dozen civil suits in the issue in which millions of
customers' credit-card information and emails were stolen. To
combat future thefts, the company has completed a project to
encrypt credit-card data at the point of sale.
The company's first quarter results included $7 million in
breach-related costs, though Home Depot said it can't yet estimate
the full scope of costs related to the breach.
Access Investor Kit for The Home Depot, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US4370761029
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires