Home Depot raises full-year sales guidance on strong second quarter results
US home improvement retailer Home Depot has reported earnings excluding items of $1.21 (77p) per share on $21.8bn revenue – up from $1.01 per share the previous year and beating analyst expectations of $1.21 (release).
Pre-tax earnings rose by 17.7 per cent to $2.846bn, while basic earnings per share rose 22.5 per cent to $1.25.
Total sales for the period increased by 9.5 per cent, in spite of a calendar change resulting in one less week of spring sales, which the company estimates impacted sales growth by a negative $249m, or 120 basis points. Like-for-like sales rose 1.7 per cent.
The company has now raised its sales growth guidance to 4.5 per cent for the full year, with comparable store sales expected to increase by 6.0 per cent. Earnings per share are expected to increase by around a fifth to $3.60.