Home Improvement Retailer Home Depot was in a position to take advantage of the upsurge in construction and renovation. $HD sales rose to the highest ever for the first quarter of the year. The company is still seeing healthy demand, even in the face of rising prices and a shaky housing market and raised guidance accordingly.
Earnings
HD earnings per share were $4.09, up from $3.86 a year earlier. Analysts expected earnings of $3.69 a share. First-quarter sales climbed to $38.9 billion from $37.5 billion a year earlier, a 3.8% increase.
On a comparable-store basis, sales rose 2.2% worldwide and 1.7% at U.S. stores. soundly beating the Refinitiv forecast of 1.4%, comparable sales in the U.S. also topped Street forecasts.
Average tickets rose 11.4% $91.72 per trip), compared to a 12.4% growth rate in the final three months of last year.
Gross margins narrowed 30 basis points to 33.8% but fell largely in-line with Street forecasts.
“The solid performance in the quarter is even more impressive as we were comparing against last year’s historic growth and faced a slower start to spring this year,” said Ted Decker, chief executive officer.
Outlook
Home Depot raised 2022 guidance for sales growth to 3% and an operating margin of about 15.4%. It expects EPS growth to be in the “mid-single digits,” it said.
Source: Home Depot, AlphaStreet
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