Home Depot Inc. said today that its fiscal second-quarter profit fell 7 percent, as the nation’s biggest home-improvement retailer with stores throughout Connecticut shuttered its Expo business and continued to be pinched by the recession.
Still, the Atlanta-based company’s adjusted results beat Wall Street’s expectations, and it lifted its guidance for full-year earnings from continuing operations.
Shares rose $1, or 4 percent, to $27.11 in premarket trading.
Home Depot earned $1.12 billion, or 66 cents per share, for the period ended Aug. 2. That’s down from $1.2 billion, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding Expo-related charges, profit was 67 cents per share, topping analysts’ forecasts for 59 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. Home Depot had announced in January that it planned to close its 34 Expo Design Centers.
Quarterly results also included an approximately $50 million tax benefit related to a favorable foreign tax settlement. The tax benefited boosted earnings by about 3 cents per share.
Revenue dropped 9 percent to $19.07 billion from $21 billion, falling short of the $19.23 billion forecast of analysts polled.
Sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, slid 8.5 percent. Same-store sales are a key indicator of retailer performance because they measure growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.
Cost-cutting helped results, as the company said total operating expenses fell 8 percent to $4.56 billion from $4.92 billion a year ago.
“Our business performed well in a down market, we captured market share and drove operating productivity,” said Chairman and CEO Frank Blake said in a statement. Still, he added that concerns about the housing market, rising unemployment and the weak economy continue to pressure consumers.
Results were better than those of rival Lowe’s Cos., which a day earlier reported second-quarter profit fell 19 percent, missing expectations, on weaker-than-expected sales. The No. 2 home-improvement retailer also narrowed its full-year profit outlook, in contrast to Home Depot.
