Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) forecast annual profit below Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, hurt by higher supply chain costs amid weakening demand for home improvement products due to inflation. The No. 1 U.S. home improvement chain also missed fourth-quarter comparable sales estimates, sending its shares down 2.5% to $310 in premarket trading. The company said it expects earnings per share to decline in the mid-single digits percentage range for 2023, while analysts were expecting a 0.4% increase to $16.72, according to Refinitiv data. Comparable sales fell 0.3% in the fourth quarter compared with analysts’ average estimate of a 0.56% increase. The company said it was planning to invest an additional $1 billion in annualized compensation for its frontline, hourly associates, starting from the first quarter of 2023.
Asian Stocks Hit By Tech Rout, More Fed Cues Awaited
Most Asian stock markets sank on Wednesday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, with technology-heavy indexes losing the most as caution kicked in ahead of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s February meeting. Japan’s Nikkei 225, the Taiwan Weighted index, and South Korea’s KOSPI were the worst performers for the […]
