Home Depot Inc. said that its fiscal second-quarter earnings fell seven per cent, as the nation's biggest home-improvement retailer 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.
Home Depot earned $1.12 billion US, 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.
In January, the chain announced plans to shutter its 34 Expo Design Centers. Excluding charges related to that transaction, profit was 67 cents per share, topping the 59 cents per share figure that analysts had been looking for.
Revenue dropped nine per cent to $19.07 billion from $21 billion, falling short of the $19.23-billion forecast of analysts polled.
The key retail metric of same-store sales, or sales at stores open more than a year, slid 8.5 per cent.
The company raised its 2009 estimate for earnings from continuing operations, forecast to increase to up to seven per cent. It had previously forecast a seven per cent dip in earnings from continuing operations.
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