Home Depot (HD) Reports 41% Increase In First-Quarter Profit

Home Depot, Inc. HD reported a 41% increase in first-quarter profit, today. The company reported first-quarter profit of $725 million, or $0.43 per share, compared with a profit of $514 million, or $0.30 per share reported for the same period last year. Excluding one-time items, the company reported a profit of $0.45 per share, up from $0.35 per share reported in the same period last year. Revenue increased 4.3% to $16.86 billion in the quarter. Same-store sales increased 4.8%. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were on average expecting Home Depot to report a profit of $0.40 per share and revenue of $16.37 billion. Gross margin improved by 70 basis points to 34.4% in the quarter. Shares of Home Depot, Inc. were up 0.17% to $35.65 in pre-market trading today.