Home Depot 3Q results beat estimates

ATLANTA — A boost from the gradually recovering housing market helped Home Depot's net income edge up in its fiscal third quarter.

Its results beat Wall Street's expectations. The company's stock gained 3.6% for the day, up $2.21 to close at $63.37 per share.

Home improvement retailers like Home Depot have benefited from the slowly recovering housing market. Last week a measure of U.S. home prices reported by real estate data provider CoreLogic climbed the most in six years. And low mortgage rates are making home buying attractive.

New home sales jumped last month to the highest annual pace in two and a half years. And while sales of previously occupied homes dipped in September, they have risen steadily the past year.

For the period ended Oct. 28, Home Depot reported net income of $947 million, or 63 cents per share. That's up from $934 billion, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding a charge for closing some stores in China, earnings were 74 cents per share.

That topped the 70 cents analysts predicted.

Revenue rose more than 4% to $18.13 billion. Wall Street expected $17.92 billion.

Click here to read the rest of the article.