Recent Housing Market News for Home Depot & Sears
Friday, July 13, 2007
From Financial Sense Online Market WrapUp: "The markets were down sharply yesterday on negative news from big retailers indicating the housing spillover is getting worse, not better. Yesterday Home Depot lowered its 2007 earnings expectations, announcing earnings per share for the year would drop 15%-18%, greater than the 15% drop previously announced in May. ""'We look at the overall market and there's still a correction that lies ahead of us,' Chief Executive Frank Blake told analysts. 'But we're pretty far ahead in the correction process.'"
"Shedding light on how bad things are for Home Depot, same-store sales are expected to tumble in the mid-single-digit range, marking the second time in Home Depot’s history that it has seen negative same-store sales. Total retail sales are expected to slide 1%-2% for the year, greater than the 0%-1% originally estimated."
"Also weighing the markets down yesterday was Sears announcement that second-quarter earnings will be in the $1.06 to $1.32 a share range, roughly half Wall Street’s call of $2.12 a share. Sears reported that same-store sales fell 4% at U.S. Sears stores, with declines witnessed across most categories and the greatest weakness seen in home appliance sales. "
"Durable good sales, such as home appliances, have been steadily loosing ground to nondurable goods sales, such as food and beverage, as the economy slows, and the poor home appliance sales at Sears comes as no surprise and does not look to reverse course any time soon."
Labels: Construction Industry, Construction News
