Home Depot beat Q4 forecasts, but 2025 guidance underwhelms

(Sharecast News) - Home Depot's share price was trading lower ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday despite the DIY retailer topping forecasts with its fourth-quarter results, as its sales forecast for the coming year disappointed investors. Sales for the fourth quarter of 2024 was up 14.1% year-on-year at $39.7bn, helped by $2.5bn of sales from an additional week of trading. Comparable sales increased by 0.8%.

Net earnings increased to $3.0bn or $3.02 a share, up from $2.8bn or $2.82 a share a year earlier.

That beat consensus revenue and EPS estimates of $39.1bn and $3.04, respectively.

"Our fourth quarter results exceeded our expectations as we saw greater engagement in home improvement spend, despite ongoing pressure on large remodeling projects," said chair, president and chief executive Ted Decker.

However, looking ahead, Home Depot pointed to comparable sales growth of just 1.0% over 2025, short of the 1.6% currently pencilled in by analysts.

Meanwhile, in a CNBC interview on Tuesday, chief financial officer Richard McPhail revealed that wintery weather in January and February has dampened sales over the first quarter so far. "Where weather is good, we continue to see engagement [...] Where weather is tough, projects get put on the shelf," he said.

The stock was down 0.5% at $380.55 by 0718 in New York.