Shares of Home Depot Inc. HD dropped 3.0% toward a seven-month low in premarket trading Tuesday, after the home improvement retail giant reported fiscal first-quarter profit that topped expectations but sales that fell short, and cut the full-year outlook., citing lumber deflation, reduced demand and unfavorable weather. Net income for the quarter to April 30fell to $3.87 billion, or $3.82 a share, from $4.32 billion, or $4.09 a share, in the year-ago period. That the FactSet consensus for earnings per share of $3.80. Sales declined 4.2% to $37.26 billion, well below the FactSet consensus of $38.31 billion, as same-store sales fell 4.5% to miss expectations for a 1.6% decline. “Given the negative impact to first quarter sales from lumber deflation and weather, further softening of demand relative to our expectations, and continued uncertainty regarding consumer demand, we are updating our guidance to reflect a range of potential outcomes,” said Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail. For fiscal 2023, the company cut its EPS outlook to a decline of between 7% and 13% from a decline in the mid-single digit percentage range, and lowered its sales outlook to a decline between 2% and 5% from flat. The stock has dropped 10.2% over the past three months through Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA has slipped 1.0%.
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