(Reuters) – Home Depot Inc beat quarterly same-store sales estimates on Tuesday, helped by sustained demand for tools and materials from builders and handymen working on housing projects.
Professional contractors have been rushing back to Home Depot’s stores as they look to upgrade their toolkits and source building materials to complete a backlog of home improvement and repair jobs that were put on hold during the health crisis.
Rising home prices in the United States has also given people confidence to invest in upgrade jobs for their homes, while more millenials moving to suburban areas during the pandemic has also expanded the core customer base of retailers like Home Depot.
Same-store sales rose 6.1% in the third quarter ended Oct. 31, beating analysts’ estimates of a 1.4% increase, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Overall net sales rose nearly 10% to $36.8 billion, beating estimates of $35.01 billion.
Home Depot’s shares rose about 1% in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
