Home Depot hurt by housing slump

A persistently bleak housing environment forced Home Depot Inc. to diminish its financial outlook as the nation’s largest home improvement store chain posted a 26.8% drop in its fiscal third-quarter profit.

Atlanta-based Home Depot predicted a fall of as much as 11% in earnings a share from continued operations because of “softness in the housing market.”

“We started the year with a more pessimistic view of the housing and home improvement markets than many,” Chief Executive Frank Blake told analysts. “It turns out we were not pessimistic enough.”

Home Depot said it earned $1.09 billion, or 60 cents a share, for the three months that ended Oct. 28, compared with a profit of $1.49 billion, or 73 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding discontinued operations, Home Depot earned 59 cents a share, falling a penny shy of expectations.

Revenue dropped 3.5% to $18.96 billion, short of analyst expectations of $19.39 billion.

Home Depot shares rose 66 cents, or 2.3%, to $29.12.