Home Depot: Revenue Misses Forecasts

by Christopher Freeburn | May 15, 2012 9:45 am

Warmer weather this spring translated into higher profits at Home Depot (NYSE:HD[1]), but the company fell short of revenue predictions.

The home improvement chain announced that earnings for the first quarter[2] shot up 27.5% to $1.04 billion, compared to $812 million during the same time last year. EPS was 68 cents, beating analyst estimates of 64 cents, the Washington Post noted.

First-quarter revenue increased 6% to $17.81 billion, up from $16.8 billion in 2011. However, that disappointed analysts who had predicted $17.89 billion for the quarter.

Investors weren’t impressed. Home Depot shares fell more than 2% in early Tuesday trading (perhaps creating an opportunity to buy HD shares at a discount[3]).

The company raised its earnings outlook for the fiscal year from $2.79 per share to $2.90 per share. It expects annual revenue to rise 4.6% to about $73.66 billion, compared to earlier projections of a 4% increase.

This matched analysts’ forecast for annual earnings, but missed their projection of $74.06 billion in revenue.

Same-store sales increased 5.8% from last year. Stores based in the U.S. saw a 6.1% rise in sales.

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