ATLANTA – Home Depot Inc. (HD), the world's largest home improvement retailer, on Tuesday reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on increased sales and benefits from technology upgrades.
Based on the results, Home Depot lifted its sales and earnings growth forecast for the full year.
Profit rose to $1.5 billion, or 72 cents a share, for the third quarter ended on October 30, from $1.3 billion, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected 68 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Sales rose 10.5 percent to $20.7 billion, while sales at stores open at least a year gained 3.6 percent. The average purchase rose 6 percent to $58.92 as Home Depot introduced new power tools and gained market share in appliances.
The Atlanta-based retailer benefited from recent hurricanes and also cited operational improvements from technology upgrades. Home Depot Supply, the division that caters to home builders and other contractors, posted double-digit sales growth.
Home Depot is expanding services to homeowners and contractors to fuel growth beyond its core retail stores.
The company said it now expects full-year per-share profit to increase 17 percent to 18 percent, compared with its previous outlook of 14 percent to 17 percent. It lifted its sales growth forecast for the year to between 10 percent and 12 percent from a prior range of 9 percent to 12 percent.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox