Home Improvement, Behemoth Home Depot on Tuesday warned of
a decline in annual profit and a bigger drop in
its annual comparable sales as weak discretionary spending dampened expectations
of a recovery in consumer sentiment this year for now
, customers are delaying big home projects and are instead
waiting for interest rates to fall according to CEO Ted
Decker. On a post earnings call data from Placer
dot A, I also said weak new home sales
in May and June led to foot traffic dropping 0.4
percent in July after a 4.3% rise in June.
Home Depot expects annual comparable sales to drop between 3%
and 4% compared with its prior view of a nearly
1% decline. While diluted profit per share is expected
to drop 2% to 4% to offset weak demand from
individual consumers. Home Depot in June bought material supplier
SRS distribution to lure more professional builders, roofers,
landscapers and pool contractors into its stores. The company
said the deal is expected to add about$6.4 billion
to its sales for the year