Investors Cheer Home Depot's Strong Q1 Results And Outlook

Home Depot Inc HD delivered more than the street analysts expected as far as the earnings and revenue were concerned for the first quarter. On top of that, the company boosted its earnings forecast for the current year above the Street predictions.

Home Depot reported net earnings of $1.8 billion for the first quarter, up 12.5 percent from $1.6 billion in the year-ago quarter. Its earnings also grew 19 percent to $1.44 a share from $1.21 per share in the same period of the last year. This was $0.08 a share higher than the Street expectations of $1.44 a share.

The world's biggest home improvement retailer generated sales of $22.8 billion for the first quarter compared to $20.89 billion delivered in the previous year quarter. This represented a 9.0 percent increase on a year-over-year basis. The company attributed the strong sales to its comparable store sales growth of 6.5 percent. In the United States stores, comp sales advanced 7.4 percent. Analysts estimated the company to generate sales of $22.39 billion.

Chairman, CEO and President, Craig Menear, commented, "We were pleased with our stronger than expected start to the year, driven by solid execution and broad-based growth across the store. This was made possible by our hard working associates and their continued dedication to our customers in a quarter marked by week-to-week demand spikes caused by weather variability."

Going forward, Home Depot said it expects earnings to grow about 14.8 percent to $6.27 a share in the current year from the last year. Similarly, the company expects sales to go up by about 6.3 percent with comp sales growth of 4.9 percent. Street analysts predict the home retailer to deliver earnings of $6.23 a share on revenues of $93.87 billion.

In the pre-market trading on Tuesday, shares of the company traded 1.97 percent higher.