{
  "id": 1732371,
  "title": "Home Depot Q2 earnings beat forecasts as customers stick to small projects, housing market remains 'frozen'",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/home-depot-q2-earnings-beat-forecasts-as-customers-stick-to-small",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-18T11:30:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Finance",
    "slug": "yahoo-finance",
    "url": "https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/article/home-depot-q2-earnings-beat-forecasts-as-customers-stick-to-small-projects-housing-market-remains-frozen-113055971.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In Home Depot's second quarter earnings, revenue increased by nearly 6% to $47.9 billion, surpassing analysts' forecasts of $47.3 billion. Adjusted earnings grew slightly to $4.79, exceeding the predicted $4.73. CFO Richard McPhail and senior executive vice president Ann-Marie Campbell are temporarily overseeing the company as CEO Ted Decker is on medical leave. Stock prices for Home Depot rose modestly following the announcement.\n\nCustomer foot traffic to Home Depot stores decreased, but those who visited spent more money on average. Overall sales for stores that remained open (same-store sales) grew by 1.7%, which is higher than the anticipated 1%. When sales exceeded $1,000, there was a 2.4% increase compared to the previous year.\n\nProfit margins from large projects are still struggling as the housing market has remained stagnant for the past four years. CFO McPhail explained that the team believes housing conditions will continue to be frozen due to 30-year fixed mortgage rates hovering around 6.7%. He did not anticipate significant volatility from the recent rate hikes. The company expects total sales to grow between 2.5% and 4.5% in 2026, with same-store sales either flat or growing by up to 2%.\n\nHome Depot received $730 million in tariff refunds, with $685 million of that reducing its cost of goods sold. This helped offset higher prices for fuel, energy, resin, and metals during the second and third quarters. Analyst Michael Baker from D.A. Davidson emphasized that these results set a higher bar for Lowe's, which is expected to report a same-store sales increase of 0.7% when it releases its quarterly results.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Investing.com",
        "title": "Why is Home Depot stock gaining today?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/why-is-home-depot-stock-gaining-today",
        "published": "2026-08-18T16:11:55.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}