Investing.com - Home Depot Inc's (NYSE:HD) shares reversed direction during Tuesday’s after hours session, despite the company’s pre-market, positive earnings release.
Pre-bell, Home Depot announced that it earned $2.25 a share in the quarter, up from $1.97 a share, a year earlier. Sales increased 6.2% to $28.12 billion. Analysts expected the company would earn $2.21 per share $27.82 billion in revenue.
A big jump in online sales contributed to the latest results. Online sales rose 23% in the quarter, representing 6.4% of total sales.
The company also raised its outlook, for the second time this year, saying the home-improvement market is getting a lift from millennials and other first-time home buyers.Millennials are "moving into homes, which bodes very well for us and extends the recovery," Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome said in a call with analysts. Along with strong sales of starter homes that often require repairs and renovations, Ms. Tome pointed to an aging housing stock as contributing to the continued healthy demand.
The company now expects annual sales to grow 5.3%, led by 5.5% same-store sales growth, up from prior guidance of 4.6% growth. For earnings, the company expects a 13% jump compared with an 11% increase forecast earlier.
While Home Depot's shares were indicated up about 2% in the pre-market on the back of the earnings release, they have fallen in afternoon trading. Shares were recently down 2.8%.