Join our community of traders FOR FREE!

  • Learn
  • Improve yourself
  • Get Rewards
Learn More

Home Depot Inc, the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, reported Q3 profit that beat analysts expectations as improved U.S. job market motivated consumers to spend more.

Sales for the three months ended November 2 increased 5.4% to $20.52 billion, compared with last years result of $19.47 billion. Performance was boosted by a 3.2% growth in transactions to 355.4 million and a 2.3% increase in average sale size to $57.55.

Net income increased 13.8% to $1.54 billion with $1.15 earnings per share versus the $1.35 billion and $0.95 earnings per share of last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected $20.47 billion of revenue with a $1.13 earnings per share.

“During the quarter we saw strong performance across all geographies led by growth in transactions and continued strength in the core of the store,” said CEO Craig Menear.

Mr. Menear took over as chief executive at the beginning of the month and only a few days later the retailer was hit by a cyber attack, which resulted in around 53 million stolen customers emails and 56 million of compromised credit-card accounts.

Frank Blake, the previous CEO, had previously pointed out the company’s need to improve data security. The recent hacker attack cost Home Depot $28 million of pretax expenses for the quarter, the company said that full-year net costs related to the incident may go as high as $34 million.

Home Depot also mentioned that there could be other expenses linked to the security breach, such as reimbursements for credit-card fraud, credit-card reissuance, investigations and litigation. As of now the company said it couldnt estimate the value of those costs. The home-improvement retailer is faced with 44 civil lawsuits connected to the data breach in the U.S. and Canada.

The company reaffirmed its 2014 fiscal guidance of around 4.8% sales growth and 21% increase in earnings per share to $4.54. The projection include the planned $1.26 billion repurchase of shares in the fourth quarter, bringing the total amount of bought back shares to $7 billion year-to-date. On average analysts estimated earnings per share to hit $4.53.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the average price for a single-family home in the U.S. rose 4.9% during the third quarter. The movement follows Q2s increase of 4.4% and Q1s gain of 8.3%.

Home Depot Inc lost 0.21% on Monday and closed at $98.03 in New York. On Tuesday the stock dropped 1.10% to trade at $96.95 at 14:31 GMT, marking a one-year increase of 22.49%. The company is valued at $131.94 billion. According to CNN Money, the 26 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Home Depot Inc have a median target of $99.50, with a high estimate of $115.00 and a low estimate of $82.00. The median estimate represents a 1.50% increase from the last close price of $98.03.

TradingPedia.com is a financial media specialized in providing daily news and education covering Forex, equities and commodities. Our academies for traders cover Forex, Price Action and Social Trading.

Related News

  • Nintendo share price up, Super Mario goes mobileNintendo share price up, Super Mario goes mobile Nintendo Co announced on Tuesday it had teamed up with mobile game developer DeNA Co to bring its iconic characters like Super Mario, to the world of smartphones and tablets.The Japanese game developer, best known for its home and handheld […]
  • Forex Market: EUR/GBP daily trading forecastForex Market: EUR/GBP daily trading forecast Yesterday’s trade saw EUR/GBP within the range of 0.7316-0.7349. The daily low was a fresh more-than-six-year low. The pair closed at 0.7337, ticking up 0.02% on a daily basis.At 7:16 GMT today EUR/GBP was down 0.05% for the day to trade […]
  • Copper gains for a sixth day on strong EU dataCopper gains for a sixth day on strong EU data Copper advanced for a sixth day on Tuesday as upbeat economic data from the Euro zone, the third biggest consumer of the metal, boosted demand prospects. Optimism over the stabilizing economic activity in China and expectations for positive […]
  • Forex Market: GBP/USD daily trading outlookForex Market: GBP/USD daily trading outlook Yesterday’s trade (in GMT terms) saw GBP/USD within the range of 1.3108-1.3463. The pair closed at 1.3342, surging 1.48% compared to Wednesdays close. It has been the 135th gain in the past 294 trading days. The daily high has been the highest […]
  • Ericsson’s share price down, third-quarter sales surpass analysts’ estimates on strong phone carriers’ spendingEricsson’s share price down, third-quarter sales surpass analysts’ estimates on strong phone carriers’ spending The biggest wireless networks maker in the world, Ericsson, made an official statement today that its sales over the third quarter of the fiscal year rose, which surpassed analysts projections, as phone carriers invested in networks in order […]
  • Commodities trading outlook: gold, silver and copper futuresCommodities trading outlook: gold, silver and copper futures Gold and silver futures were down during afternoon trade in Europe today, as the US posted key data on consumer inflation and housing. US policy makers will meet tomorrow, to decide on key policies and evaluate the direction of the US economy. […]