Home Depot Falls After Missing Analysts’ Expectations on the Top Line

Shares of home improvement retailer Home Depot were falling in Tuesday’s trading session after posting first quarter earnings that missed what analysts had been waiting for on the top line.

Home Depot cited the miss due to rocky spring weather that hit the company’s gardening business. CEO Craig Menaer remarked, “This clearly is a garden story for us.”

For the first quarter, earnings per share were $2.08 compared to the $2.05 that was expected. Revenue at $24.95 billion was behind the $25.15 billion expected.

Also for the quarter Home Deport reported same-store sales saw a drop of 4.2%. This was better than the drop of 5.4% that was anticipated. Excluding Home Depot’s garden business, comparable sales rose 6.5%.

For the full year, Home Depot is expecting sales to rise 6.7% and comps to rise 5%. Earnings per share is expected to also rise 28% to $9.31. Analysts however are expecting EPS of $9.44.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and have not been compensated for this article.