While lumber deflation and recently announced tariffs impacted the two largest home improvement retailers in the United States, second quarter results remained relatively strong. The Home Depot on Tuesday reported that net sales rose 1.2% to $30.8 billion, up from $30.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, according to a company press release.
This was slightly behind FactSet’s estimate of $31 billion. Net earnings were $3.48 billion, down 0.8% from $3.5 billion in the year-ago period. The decline was primarily due to the 52-week fiscal year compared to last year’s 53-week fiscal year, according to GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders. Company-wide comp sales rose 3% and US comp sales were up 3.1%. “Home improvement is an early indicator of economic distress and, from Home Depot’s numbers, there is no sign that the consumer is in a tailspin,” Saunders said in comments… RetailDIVE
