Home Depot Is Still Looking Good

From The Motley Fool, Published September 5, 2013 

The world's biggest home-improvement retailer, Home Depot (NYSE: HD  ) , recently reported quarterly results that were well above market expectations. Its closest competitor, Lowe's (NYSE: LOW  ) , also posted strong results as these two stocks continue their rally on the back of a housing recovery. The latest new home sales data was disappointing, but the long-term outlook remains positive.

Quarterly results

Home Depot's net sales increased  by 9.5% year-over-year to $22.5 billion, while net earnings rose 17.2% to approximately $1.8 billion, or $1.24 per share. The company managed to beat both revenue and EPS estimates by $780 million and $0.03 per share, respectively . Comparable-store sales were extremely strong--the year-over-year increase was 10.7%, as opposed to analysts' estimates calling for a gain of 7% to 8%.

Home Depot's CEO Frank Blake has attributed an uptick in consumer sales, as opposed to

What Are The Bright Spots In Wal-Mart's Earnings?

From Seeking Alpha

The world's leading brick and mortar retailer Wal-Mart (WMT), has reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2013 in which it missed Wall Street expectations. This was partly due to the bad weather, delays in tax refunds and a payroll tax increase. However, there were some bright spots in Wal-Mart's performance. The company continues to grow globally in the e-commerce space while the management believes that Wal-Mart is increasing its market share in groceries, despite the lackluster performance as compared to some of its rivals .... Read More
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