Home Depot beats and raises guidance (HD)

Reuters/Jim Young

(Reuters) - Home Depot Inc, the No. 1 U.S. home improvement chain, reported better-than-expected profit and sales for the third quarter, helped by higher traffic and more spending at its stores.

The company, which has benefited from demand for new homes in the United States as well as rising wages and consumer spending, also slightly raised its full-year earnings forecast.

Home Depot's shares were up 2.7 percent at $131.09 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

The company's ales at established stores rose 5.5 percent in the three months ended Oct. 30.

Analysts on average had expected an increase of 4.4 percent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

Home Depot's net sales rose 6.1 percent to $23.15 billion in the quarter.

Net earnings rose to $1.97 billion, or $1.60 per share, from $1.73 billion, or $1.35 per share.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.58 per share on sales of $23.04 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Home Depot now expects earnings for the year ending January 2017 to be $6.33 per share, up from its previous forecast of $6.31.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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