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Shares of the No. 1 U.S. home improvement chain, up 25 percent
in the past 12 months, rose nearly 1 percent to $196 in
premarket trading.
"Not only did our seasonal business rebound from the first
quarter, but our overall results exceeded our expectations,"
Craig Menear, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a
statement.
The performance comes at a time when sales of new U.S.
single-family homes fell to an eight-month low in June and data
for the prior month was revised sharply lower, the latest
indications that the housing market was slowing down.
The company's sales rebounded from the first quarter when
cooler-than-usual weather in some parts of the United States
hurt demand for spring-season products.
The retailer raised its full-year earnings forecast to $9.42 per
share from $9.31. It also now expects comparable sales growth of
about 5.3 percent from 5 percent earlier.
Home Depot said customer transactions rose 3.1 percent in the
second quarter ended July 29.
Sales at Home Depot stores open for more than a year climbed 8
percent, beating the average analyst estimate of a 6.65 percent
rise, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net earnings increased to $3.5 billion, or $3.05 per share, in
the quarter, from $2.7 billion, or $2.25, a year earlier.
Analysts expected $2.84 per share.
Net sales rose 8.4 percent to $30.5 billion, beating
expectations of $30.03 billion.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in New York; Editing by Kirsten
Donovan, Jane Merriman and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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