Home Depot Inc. (HD) Earnings: Home Improvement Chain Reports Better-Than-Expected Sales, Profit

Home Depot Inc., the world’s biggest home improvement chain, reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit Tuesday, saying that inconsistent weather drove demand across the board.

Shares of the company, which also raised its sales and profit forecast for the year ending January 2017, were up 2.5 percent at $138.75 in early trading.

Sales at Home Depot’s U.S. stores open for more than a year rose 7.4 percent, well above the average 4.9 percent average forecast of analysts surveyed by research firm Consensus Metrix.

The company’s net income increased to $1.80 billion, or $1.44 per share in the first quarter ended May 1, from $1.58 billion, or $1.21 per share, a year earlier.

Net sales rose 9 percent to $22.76 billion.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.36 per share and revenue of $22.39 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.