© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A Home Depot store is seen in Los Angeles, California March 17, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
(Reuters) -Home Depot beat quarterly profit estimates and posted a lower-than-expected decline in comparable sales on Tuesday, as the top U.S. home-improvement retailer tapped into a switch by customers to small-scale projects and repair work.
U.S. consumers have put big renovations and discretionary home improvement projects on the back burner as they battle still high prices of food and essentials, lingering caution around the economy and higher interest rates.
“Similar to the second quarter, we saw continued customer engagement with smaller projects, and experienced pressure in certain big-ticket, discretionary categories,” CEO Ted Decker said, indicating still strong demand for essential maintenance work.
Comparable sales fell 3.1% in the third quarter, while analysts on average had expected a 3.31% drop. Profit of $3.81 per share topped estimates of $3.76.
Shares of the company rose 1% in premarket trading.
Customer transactions fell 2.4% in the quarter ended Oct. 29, while average spending also dipped slightly.
The company also tightened its annual sales forecast range to a decline between 3% and 4%, compared with its prior forecast for a 2% to 5% decline. Analysts on average are expecting a 2.72% drop, according to LSEG data.
It now expects annual per-share profit to fall 9% to 11%, compared with a decline between 7% and 13% estimated previously.
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