The numbers came in ahead of Wall Street. Home Depot reported revenue of $47.86 billion for the three months ended Aug. 2, up from $45.28 billion a year earlier and above the $47.24 billion analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast. Net earnings reached $4.77 billion, or $4.79 per share, compared with $4.55 billion, or $4.58 per share, in the same period last year. Excluding one-time items, earnings hit $4.92 per share, well clear of the $4.73 per share Wall Street had penciled in.
Comparable-store sales climbed 1.7% globally and 1.3% in the United States. Customer transactions slipped 1% in the quarter, but average ticket size rose to $92.50 from $90.01 a year earlier — meaning fewer trips, but bigger baskets.
The driver is a housing market that has been frozen since 2022. The National Association of Realtors reported last week that existing home sales fell 1.7% in July from June, weighed down by record prices and the highest mortgage rates in a year. The U.S. median sales price rose 2% year-over-year to $434,100. With move-up buyers sidelined, homeowners are renovating in place.
Smaller projects carried the quarter. Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail said customers 'continued to engage in smaller projects.' GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders confirmed the trend from his firm's data: the number of smaller projects undertaken in the quarter increased 1.5% over the prior year. 'This may sound unimpressive,' Saunders wrote in an email, 'but it represents a step change from the declines of previous periods.'
Big-ticket work remains under pressure. Saunders noted that larger projects fell 2.1% year-over-year. Home equity loans that looked manageable at 4% to 5% borrowing rates are a different proposition at 8% or higher, and the lack of home-sale activity removes a key trigger for major renovations.
Home Depot held its full-year guidance. The Atlanta-based retailer kept its fiscal 2026 forecast of 2.5% to 4.5% sales growth and reiterated expectations for comparable sales to be flat to up 2%. The company said its outlook incorporates tariff refunds expected to partially offset higher fuel, energy, and other product input costs. Executive Billy Bastek had previously indicated that some products on Home Depot shelves might disappear as a result of tariffs, though the company said at the time it did not expect to raise prices because of them.
Home Depot also announced a new express delivery service, promising orders within three hours or less, available nationwide for a small flat fee with no subscription required.
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The market has already voted on what a broken housing ladder means for the home-improvement trade: it means captive customers. When Americans cannot afford to move — median prices at $434,100, mortgage rates still elevated — they spend on the home they already own. Home Depot's beat is less a triumph of retail strategy than a direct readout of a credit environment that punishes mobility and rewards staying put.
Free enterprise adapts. The company is expanding same-day logistics, managing tariff exposure through refunds, and harvesting demand that a healthier housing market might have redirected into moving vans. The real question for investors is whether the Fed and Washington can eventually unlock the transaction market — because a full housing recovery, not a frozen one, is ultimately what drives the big-ticket remodeling that still lags 2.1% behind last year.
