Home Depot Inc. posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings early Tuesday, but said its customers were avoiding certain big-ticket items.
“Our quarterly performance was in line with our expectations,” said Ted Decker, chair, president and CEO, in a statement. “Similar to the second quarter, we saw continued customer engagement with smaller projects, and experienced pressure in certain big-ticket, discretionary categories.”
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The Atlanta-based home-improvement retailer
HD,
had net income of $3.8 billion, or $3.81 a share, for the quarter, down from $4.3 billion, or $4.24 a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales fell 3% to $37.7 billion.
The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $3.75 and sales of $37.6 billion.
Same-store sales fell 3.1%, while FactSet was expecting a decline of 3.6%
The company narrowed its prior guidance for the full year and said it now expects EPS to fell 9% to 11% and for sales and same-store sales to be down 3% to 4%.
The FactSet consensus implies an EPS decline of 9.4%, and a sales decline of 3%.
Consumers have been struggling this year with higher interest rates and inflationary pressures, that have some conserving cash for essentials.
The company will hold its earnings call with analysts at 9.00 a.m. Eastern Time.
The stock was up 1.4% premarket but is down 9% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 15%.
