Home Depot beats Q3 estimates; updates full-year outlook

Home Depot’s (HD) stock rose 3.3% in premarket trade on Tuesday after the company beat market estimates on revenue and earnings for the third quarter of 2018 and updated its guidance for the full year.

Total sales grew 5.1% year-over-year to $26.3 billion compared to the same period last year. Comparable sales grew 4.8% globally and 5.4% in the US. Net income improved to $2.9 billion, or $2.51 per share, from $2.2 billion, or $1.84 per share, last year.

During the quarter, customer transactions improved 1.4% while average ticket grew 3.6%. Sales per square foot saw a growth of 5.2% during the period compared to last year.

Home Depot saw growth in both professional and do-it-yourself (DIY) customers during the quarter. The initiatives undertaken to expand assortment and improve the shopping experience helped drive strong performance across stores. The company also saw good growth in its digital business.

Based on its year-to-date performance, Home Depot updated its guidance for the full year of 2018. The company will have 53 weeks of operating results in 2018 and now expects sales growth of around 7.2% compared to the previous outlook of 7%.

Comp sales is expected to grow around 5.5% for the comparable 52-week period versus the previous guidance of 5.3%. The company now expects EPS to grow about 33.8% to $9.75. The earlier projection was for a growth of 29.2% in EPS to $9.42.

Home Depot’s competitor Lowe’s Companies (LOW) is scheduled to report third quarter 2018 results on November 20.

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