Home Depot’s fourth-quarter was muted by ongoing caution from American consumers in a weak housing market, but the home improvement retailer topped Wall Street expectations.
The Atlanta company earned $2.57 billion, or $2.58 per share, for the three months ended Feb. 1. Stripping out one-time charges or benefits, earnings were $2.72 per share, topping analyst projections for per-share earnings of $2.53, according to FactSet.
A year earlier it earned $3 billion, or $3.02 per share.
An extra week in fiscal 2024 added approximately 30 cents per share to the year-ago quarter.
Home Depot's stock rose more than 3% before the market opened on Tuesday.
Revenue totaled $38.2 billion, down from $39.7 billion a year earlier. The extra week in the prior-year period added about $2.5 billion of sales.
Wall Street was looking for revenue of $38.09 billion.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, edged up 0.4%. In the U.S., comparable store sales climbed 0.3%.
Chair and CEO Ted Decker said in a statement that Home Depot’s quarterly results “were largely in-line with our expectations, reflecting the lack of storm activity in the third quarter and ongoing consumer uncertainty and pressure in housing. Adjusting for storms, underlying demand was relatively stable throughout the year.”
Customer transactions dropped 1.6% in the quarter. The amount shoppers spent rose to $91.28 per average receipt from $89.11 a year earlier.
Home Depot and other retailers have seen customers cut back on their spending amid concerns about inflation and economic uncertainty.
U.S. consumer confidence declined sharply in January, hitting the lowest level since 2014 as Americans grow increasingly concerned about their financial prospects.
The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index cratered 9.7 points to 84.5 in January, falling below even the lowest readings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell sharply in January as higher home prices and possibly harsh winter weather kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines despite easing mortgage rates.
Existing home sales sank 8.4% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s the biggest monthly decline in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years.
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade.
For fiscal 2026, Home Depot anticipates adjusted earnings to be approximately flat to up 4% from fiscal 2025’s $14.69 per share. The company foresees total sales growth of about 2.5% to 4.5% and comparable sales growth to be approximately flat to up 2%.