Home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. on Nov. 13 reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal 2018 third quarter and raised its guidance for sales and EPS for the full year.
The Atlanta-based company said diluted EPS for the third quarter ended Oct. 28 was $2.51, up from $1.84 a year earlier. A mean consensus of analyst estimates compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence had pointed to normalized EPS of $2.27 for the 2018 third quarter.
Home Depot said it now expects to report sales growth of about 7.2% for the full fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2019, up from its previous guidance of a 7% increase. It also raised its forecast for diluted EPS for fiscal 2018 to $9.75 from $9.42. The company will have 53 weeks of operating results in fiscal 2018 compared with 52 weeks in fiscal 2017.
"We saw continued strength across the store, as well as healthy growth in our digital business," said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president of Home Depot, in the statement. "We believe this is a testament to the overall strength of demand in the home improvement market." Home Depot said the growth had come from both professional and do-it-yourself customers.
Sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 rose to $26.30 billion, a 5.1% increase from the year-ago period. Overall comparable sales rose 4.8% and increased 5.4% in the U.S. For the nine months ended Oct. 28, net sales rose 6.1% to $81.71 billion from $77.02 billion.
Net earnings in the fiscal 2018 third quarter rose 32.4% to $2.87 billion from $2.17 billion a year earlier. For the nine months, net earnings rose 28.1% to $8.78 billion from $6.85 billion.
Home Depot shares were down 3.5% at $179.43 in premarket trading.
