Home Depot's Sales Lifted by Larger Customer Transactions -- Update
May 21 2019 - 9:08AM
Dow Jones News
By Kimberly Chin
Home Depot Inc.'s sales rose in the fiscal first quarter, lifted
by a rise in the number of customer transactions and stronger
spending per visit.
The home-improvement retailer's overall sales rose 5.7% to
$26.38 billion for the quarter ended May 5 from the comparable
quarter a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected
sales of $26.22 billion.
The number of customer transactions rose 3.8% and average ticket
prices, or the amount of money customers spent per visit, rose 2%.
Meanwhile, same-store sales, or comparable-store sales -- a common
metric in retail based on revenue at stores open at least one year
-- rose 2.5%. Analysts polled by Consensus Metrix expected a 4.3%
rise. Still, customer transactions and average ticket prices
rose.
The company said unfavorable weather in February as well as a
drop in lumber prices put pressure on its underlying performance in
the quarter.
However, the company reaffirmed its full-year guidance,
signalling it expects an improvement in the second quarter and
comparable sales growth to pick up pace for the rest of the year,
said Zachary Fadem, a Wells Fargo & Co. analyst in a note.
Home Depot reported net income of $2.51 billion, or $2.27 a
share, up from $2.4 billion, or $2.08 a share, a year earlier.
Profit was lifted by higher sales and lower expenses from interest
and investment income compared with the year before, Home Depot
said. Analysts projected earnings of $2.20 a share.
Shares of Home Depot were flat in premarket trading on low
trading volumes.
Home-improvement rival Lowe's Cos. is due to release its
first-quarter report Wednesday.
Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 21, 2019 08:53 ET (12:53 GMT)
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