A revenue miss in yesterday's Home Depot earnings release has some investors worried that the housing market may be cooling. Bloomberg.com reports:
Home Depot Inc.’s lackluster results last quarter are adding to concerns the U.S. housing market is slackening. The company blamed cool weather at the start of spring, its biggest selling season.
Revenue and comparable-store sales at the world’s largest home-improvement retailer missed analysts’ estimates, although profit beat projections for the 16th-straight quarter.
Home Depot’s fortunes are so tightly intertwined with the housing market that they are often viewed as a proxy for the sector. The rationale is simple: If Americans feel like their properties are rising in value, they’ll spend more fixing them up.
