Home Depot earnings beat as shoppers focus on home, retailer to make pandemic pay raises permanent

Home Depot is set to report third-quarter earnings on Tuesday before the market opens as the retailer rides a wave of increased buying across the home improvement sector driven by the pandemic.

With people spending more time at home and some leaving cities during the pandemic for spacious homes in the suburbs, Home Depot and its rival Lowe‘s have seen a surge in sales. It began in the spring, when both were deemed essential businesses as other retailers shuttered, and it continued into the summer as people traveled less and tackled more projects at home. Analysts will be watching to see whether the company was able to sustain the momentum heading into the fall.

Here’s what Wall Street was expecting for the fiscal third quarter, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

• EPS: $3.06 expected
• Revenue: $32.04 billion expected

Home Depot announced Monday that it agreed to acquire the remaining shares of HD Supply, a former unit and one of North America’s largest industrial products distributors, in a deal valued at $8 billion. Home Depot spun off HD Supply in 2007 to a group of private equity firms that included Carlyle Group, Bain Capital and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

The deal could help Home Depot cement its leading edge in the professional contractors business. Lowe’s has been trying to capture a greater share of that side of the business, but Home Depot remains dominant. Along with do-it-yourself projects, the professionals market has boomed during the pandemic, too.

Lowe’s will report fiscal third-quarter earnings before the market open on Wednesday.

As of Monday’s close, shares of Home Depot are up 28% since Jan. 1. The stock, which has a market value of nearly $301 billion, touched an all-time high on Aug. 27 of $292.95.

—CNBC’s Melissa Repko contributed to this report.

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