: Home Depot’s Q3 earnings beat estimates as retailer narrows guidance range

Home Depot Inc. HD posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings early Tuesday, but said it was seeing engagement with smaller projects and pressure in certain big-ticket, discretionary categories. The home-improvement retailer had net income of $3.8 billion, or $3.81 a share, for the quarter, down from $4.3 billion, or $4.24 a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales fell 3% to $37.7 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $3.75 and sales of $37.6 billion. Same-store sales fell 3.1%, while FactSet was expecting a decline of 3.6%. The company narrowed its prior guidance for the full year and said it now expects EPS to fell 9% to 11% and for sales and same-store sales to be down 3% to 4%. The stock was up 0.5% premarket but is down 9% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 15%.

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