Home Depot (NYSE: HD) on Tuesday reported second-quarter earnings and sales that far surpassed expectations, reaping the benefits of a warmer start to the summer.
The home improvement retailer, which had a difficult spring, also raised its outlook for revenue and same-store sales for the full year, saying the number of customer transactions jumped during the quarter, and shoppers were spending more at its stores.
Revenue proved to be $30.46 billion vs. $30.03 billion expected. Same-store sales notched up 8% globally vs. an expected increase of 6.6%
Home Depot sales have accelerated more broadly thanks to a strong housing market in the U.S. and economic tailwinds. Consumer spending on home improvement items hasn't fluctuated as much as on apparel, for example.
In previous quarters, Home Depot was helped by homeowners in recovery mode making repairs after severe storms including Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017.
The Atlanta-based retailer is focused on growing its professional homebuilder business and believes that by bolstering its delivery platform it will be able to take a larger share of the segment. The company said earlier this year it plans to spend $1.2 billion during the next five years to bulk up its supply chain, with the goal of getting online orders to shoppers more quickly.
Net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2018 climbed to $3.5 billion, or $3.05 per share, compared with $2.7 billion, or $2.25 per share, a year earlier. The results topped Street expectations for earnings of $2.84 a share.
Share prices for HD gathered 24 cents to $194.38
