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business newsSilver Lining: Home Depot Looks Well Built
Management offers constructive outlook.
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But I’m here to tell you that not all is doom and gloom in the world of home improvement.
If you have a chance, take a gander at Home Depot’s (HD) fourth-quarter numbers.
Excluding items, the Georgia-based chain put up $0.19 per share from continuing operations. Not too bad, insofar as the Street was at $0.15 per share.
If nothing else, I sense that will get analysts' attention. Meanwhile, revenues came in at about $14.61 billion, which did seem a bit light. (The estimate I’m seeing is for $14.67 billion.) However, I certainly don’t think that’s anything to get in a real twist about. In fact, in this environment, I’d venture to say it's pretty good.
What about going forward?
In the release, the company offered the following regarding the outlook for 2009: “Total sales: decline of approximately 9%.”
Home Depot finished off this past year with about $71.29 billion in revenue, so a 9% decline would come to right around $65 billion, by my math. That's shy of the just over $66.4 billion the Street is currently looking for.
But, all things considered, I don’t think that’s the end of the world. After all, things could've been worse: Management could've been very demure and offered up a far more conservative outlook. In fact, I, among others, wouldn’t have been all that surprised. But the fact that it wasn't conservative, and that came out with that number so early in the game, certainly seems like a plus to me.
Now, I’m not filling out a buy ticket on the heels of the news. But I was happy with what I saw, and things could have been a heck of a lot worse. And with the stock sitting near multi-year lows, it’s definitely got my attention.
I think the shares close in the green today. But I would like to see some insider activity on the buy side.
Hey - have a great rest of the day!
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