Monday November 23, 2015

// November 17th, 2015 // Daily News

Home Depot posts earning beat

CNBC.com
A Home Depot store in Miami, Florida.
Home Depot delivered quarterly earnings that topped analysts’ expectations on Tuesday, helped by strong demand from professional contractors and builders.
Consumers spent more on houses, home improvement products, appliances and autos than on discretionary items such as apparel in the August-October quarter, analysts said.
Smaller rival Lowe’s, which will report on Wednesday, is also expected to have benefited from strong spending on housing.
The report sent Home Depot’s premarket share price higher. (Get the latest quote here.)
The home improvement retailer posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.36 per share, up from $1.11 in the year-earlier period. The quarter’s earnings were reduced by one cent a share due to costs associated with a 2014 data breach, the company said.
Revenue rose to $21.82 billion from $20.52 billion a year ago.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected the company to post earnings per share of $1.32 on revenue of $21.82 billion.
“I think the big headline here is going to be that, following a lot of missteps by retailers lately, this is a bright spot,” Brian Nagel, Oppenheimer & Co. senior equity research analyst, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Home Depot said it now expected earnings of $5.36 per share and same-store sales growth of 4.9 percent in the year ending January, at the higher end of its previous forecast ranges.
Same-store sales rose 5.1 percent in the third quarter ended Nov. 1, above the 4.6 percent growth expected by analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix.
Shares of retailers such as Macy’s and Urban Outfitters have taken a hit after recently posting disappointing quarterly results.
“What we’ve seen for a while now is home improvement has performed better than other areas of retail. I tend to think that retailers like Macy’s are hit harder by weather,” Nagel said.”
Home Depot’s stock has outperformed those of rival retailer Lowe’s this year, rising more than 15 percent. Lowe’s stock is up about 3 percent in 2015.

Today’s Inspiration

What to Do When Trouble Comes

by Joyce Meyer – posted November 17, 2015

Fight the good fight of the faith . . . .
—1 Timothy 6:12

Sooner or later we all have some trouble in life. We all have some trials and some tribulations. Everybody goes through times of testing. And not every storm shows up in the forecast. Some days we can wake up and think everything is going to be great.

Before that day is over, we may be tested by all kinds of trouble we were not expecting. Trouble is part of life, so we simply have to be ready for it. We need to have a planned response to trouble, because it is more difficult to get strong after trouble comes. It is better to be prepared by staying strong.

The first thing you need to do when trouble comes is pray, “God, help me stay emotionally stable.” Do not let your emotions overwhelm you. The next thing you need to do is trust God. The instant that fear rises up, pray.

Stay emotionally stable, trust God, and pray. Then while you are waiting for God to answer, simply keep doing good. Keep your commitments. Do not stop serving the Lord just because you have a problem. The greatest time in the world to keep your commitments to God is in the midst of difficulty and adversity. When the devil sees that trials and tribulations won’t stop you, he will stop troubling you for a while.

To be prepared for the next time you find yourself in a difficult situation, practice saying, “I am going to be faithful to God, and God is going to give me double for my trouble. Satan, you thought you were going to hurt me, but I am going to get a double blessing, because I am one who diligently seeks the Lord.”

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