Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) released its fiscal second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Tuesday. The home improvement retailer said that it had $3.17 in earnings per share (EPS) and $30.8 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates of $3.08 in EPS and $30.98 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $3.05 on $30.46 billion in revenue.
Comparable sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 were positive 3.0%, and comparable sales in the U.S. were positive 3.1%.
At the end of the second quarter, Home Depot operated a total of 2,291 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The firm employs more than 400,000 associates.
Looking ahead to the fiscal full year, the company expects to see EPS of $10.03 and sales growth of roughly 2.3%. Consensus estimates call for $10.10 in EPS and $111.25 billion in revenue for the year.
Craig Menear, board chair, chief executive and president, commented:
We are encouraged by the momentum we are seeing from our strategic investments and believe that the current health of the U.S. consumer and a stable housing environment continue to support our business. That being said, lumber prices have declined significantly compared to last year, which impacts our sales growth. As a result, today we are updating our sales guidance to account primarily for continued lumber price deflation, as well as potential impacts to the U.S. consumer arising from recently announced tariffs. We are reaffirming our earnings-per-share growth guidance for fiscal 2019.
Shares of Home Depot closed Monday at $207.95, in a 52-week range of $158.09 to $219.30. The consensus price target is $211.03. Following the announcement, the stock was up about 2% at $212.60 in early trading indications Tuesday.
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