Home Depot tops expectations again, but signs of spending pullback by Americans continues to emerge

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Home Depot topped profit and sales expectations in its most recent quarter, but sales continue to decline as inflation and soaring interest rates play a larger role in the spending choices made by Americans

ATLANTA — Home Depot topped profit and sales expectations in its most recent quarter, but sales continued to decline as inflation and soaring interest rates play a larger role in the spending choices made by Americans.

Second quarter revenue was $42.92 billion, edging out Wall Street expectations for $42.25 billion, according to a survey of industry analysts by Zacks Investment Research. Yet that's down 2% from the $43.87 billion that nation's largest home improvement retailer reported during the same stretch last year, and sales have fallen 3.1% through the first half of the year compared with 2022.

Despite the stronger-than-expected sales figures, Home Depot on Tuesday stuck to previous guidance for the year, seeing sales decline between 2% and 5%, after lowering its forecast in the last quarter.

It's the first time the chain forecast declining annual sales since 2009 when the U.S. economy was decimated by a massive housing bubble.

There are signs that consumers, after spending big on homes during the pandemic, are slowing their roll.

“While there was strength in categories associated with smaller projects, we did see continued pressure in certain big-ticket, discretionary categories," said Ted Decker, chair and CEO. “We remain very positive on the medium-to-long term outlook for home improvement and our ability to grow share in a large and fragmented market.”

Americans spent big over the last several years on big purchases appliances and big-screen TVs, but that spending has cooled.

The Federal Reserve has,