Retail

What to Expect When Home Depot Reports Tuesday

Chris Lange

Published: August 13, 2018 11:40 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 7:28 pm

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) is scheduled to report its most recent quarterly results on Tuesday before the markets open. The consensus estimates call for $2.84 in earnings per share (EPS) and $30.01 billion in revenue for the fiscal second quarter. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $2.25 and $28.11 billion in revenue.

In the first-quarter report, revenues were a bit shy of estimates but the real downer for Home Depot was same-store sales. Analysts were looking for total same-store sales to rise by 5.6%, and that target was not in sight as the company reported same-store sales of 4.2%. U.S. same-store sales missed by even more, 3.9% versus an estimate for growth of 5.5%.

At that time, Home Depot issued full-year guidance expecting fiscal year 2018 sales to rise by 6.7% and same-store sales to rise by about 5%. EPS growth was tabbed at 28%, and EPS was forecast at $9.31.

CEO Craig Menear commented in the previous report:

Outside of our seasonal business, we had solid results in all markets and categories and are seeing strong momentum in all lines of business during these first few weeks of May. These trends, as well as a favorable housing and macroeconomic backdrop, give us confidence to reaffirm our sales and earnings guidance for fiscal 2018.

Over the past 52 weeks, Home Depot has outperformed the broad markets, with its stock up about 27%. However, in just 2018 alone, the stock is only up over 3%.

A few analysts weighed in on Home Depot ahead of the report:

• Citigroup has a Positive rating with a $220 price target.
• Loop Capital has a Hold rating with a $200 price target.
• UBS Group has a Buy rating with a $225 target price.
• Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating and a $210 price target.

Shares of Home Depot were last seen trading at $196.08, with a consensus analyst price target of $212.55 and a 52-week range of $146.89 to $207.61.