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Home Depot got a lift in the first quarter from professionals and also homeowners stocking up on spring supplies. <\/p>\n
Profit fell from its first quarter last year, but the national home improvement retailer beat Wall Street expectations. <\/p>\n
“The underlying demand in our business was relatively similar to what we saw throughout fiscal 2025, despite greater consumer uncertainty and housing affordability pressure,\u201d CEO Ted Decker said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The housing market has been static as Americans wrestle with rising costs<\/a> and other economic concerns<\/a>. <\/p>\n Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat<\/a> in April, another lackluster showing<\/a> for the housing market during what\u2019s traditionally its busiest time of the year. Existing home sales edged up 0.2% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said a week ago. Sales were unchanged compared to April last year.<\/p>\n The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade. American consumers are cautious as gas prices fuel an inflation surge<\/a> of 3.8% in the U.S. Labor Department figures last week showed that gasoline prices are up more than 28% compared with a year ago. <\/p>\n For the three months ended May 3, Home Depot earned $3.29 billion, or $3.30 per share. A year earlier the Atlanta company earned $3.43 billion, or $3.45 per share.<\/p>\n Removing certain items, earnings were $3.43 per share. That’s better than the $3.41 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet were calling for.<\/p>\n Revenue climbed to $41.77 billion from $39.86 billion, which topped Wall Street’s expectations for revenue of $41.59 billion.<\/p>\n Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer\u2019s health, rose 0.6%. In the U.S., comparable store sales climbed 0.4%.<\/p>\n Customer transactions declined 1.3% in the quarter, but the amount that shoppers spent increased to $92.76 per average receipt from $90.71 a year ago.<\/p>\n Home Depot still anticipates fiscal 2026 total sales growth of about 2.5% to 4.5% and comparable sales growth to be about flat to up 2%.<\/p>\n Shares rose more than 1% before the opening bell Tuesday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n