World’s largest home improvement retailer, Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) edged up on Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results as sales jumped 5% in the wake of strong recovery in the U.S. housing sector, prompting professional contractors to buy more of its merchandising in recent months.
In addition, company’s ongoing cost cutting measures, better distribution strategy, improved merchandising and localized marketing techniques bolstered the bottom-line. thanks to better customer services and better pricing strategy, Home Depot is gradually gobbling up the market share from its rival Lowe’s Cos Inc (NYSE: N), analysts said. In last 13 successive quarters, Home Depot outperformed Lowe’s in same-store-sales growth.
Commenting over the results, Home Depot’s Chief Executive Officer, Frank Blake said in a conference call, “Our third-quarter results were better than we expected and reflected, in part, what we believe is the start of the path toward the healing of the housing market.”
For the quarter ended October 28, the company reported net earnings of $947 million or 63 cents a share compared to $934 million or 60 cents a share, in the year earlier quarter.
Non-GAAP earnings, that is, earnings after excluding onetime charges associated with closure of 7 stores in China, came at 74 cents a share, beating analysts’ consensual estimate for 70 cents a share.
Sales for the period came at $18.13 billion, while analysts’ polled by Thomson Reuters had forecasted it at $17.93 billion.
Same-store-sales, a key gauge on retailer’s performance since it excludes the sales impact of those stores that were opened less than a year ago and stores that were closed during a year, climbed 4.2% in international markets while in the U.S. it jumped 4.3%.
Meanwhile, the company also raised its guidance on full-year sales growth to 5.2 % from 4.6 %.
The company now expects full-year earnings at $3.03 a share on adjusted basis. Analysts had forecasted it at $2.97 a share.
HD also announced that it will be buyback additional shares worth $700 million in the fiscal fourth quarter.
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