Home Depot sales and earnings, despite year-over-year declines, beat a Wall Street estimate in the third quarter as CEO Ted Decker said strategic initiatives to improve customer experience should power the company forward.
Net earnings were $3.81 billion, or $3.81 per diluted share, versus $4.34 billion, or $4.24 per diluted share, in the year-previous period, the company stated.
An analyst consensus estimate published by Yahoo Finance called for sales per diluted share of $3.76 and revenues of $37.61 billion.
Home Depot reported comparable sales slipped 3.1%, and comps for operations in the United States decreased 3.5% year over year. Sales of $37.71 billion for the quarter were down 3% from the year-prior period. Operating income was $5.41 billion versus $6.15 billion in the year-before quarter.
In a conference call commenting on third-quarter developments, Decker, Home Depot’s president, CEO and chairman, said, “We saw continued customer engagement with smaller projects and experienced pressure in certain big-ticket discretionary categories. In addition, lumber and copper and wire deflation and storm-related overlaps negatively impacted results in the quarter. During the third quarter, our pro customer outperformed our DIY customer. All internal and external surveys suggest that pro backlogs are lower than they were a year ago, [but] they’re still healthy and elevated relative to historical norms.”
Decker added although Home Depot is navigating a period of moderation in spending on homes, it is well-positioned to make gains.
“We remain very excited about our strategic initiatives and are committed to investing in the business to deliver the best interconnected shopping experience, capture wallet share with the pro and grow our store footprint,” Decker said. “We continue to invest in and focus on creating a frictionless interconnected shopping experience with our customers. We are pleased with the progress we’re making.
“Homedepot.com is one of the largest retail websites in the United States and our digital app is one of the most highly rated in all of retail,” Decker continued. “And yet, we believe there is still opportunity to reduce pain points across the shopping journey. Our teams are identifying areas of improvement like better communication throughout the shopping journey, an easier returns process and the ability to seamlessly and intuitively make changes to an order once placed.”
