Home Depot Beats Estimates with $47.9B Q2 Sales, Keeps Guidance Amid Frozen Housing Market

HD reported second-quarter fiscal 2026 sales of $47.86 billion, up 5.7% year over year and ahead of the roughly $47.24 billion consensus, with adjusted earnings per share of $4.92 against the $4.73 analysts expected . GAAP diluted EPS rose to $4.79 from $4.58 a year earlier, and comparable sales grew 1.7% versus the 0.9% Wall Street had modeled .

The comp figure is the more informative line. Home Depot has spent several quarters describing what management again called a "frozen housing market", where high mortgage rates suppress the moves and refinancings that historically pull customers into large renovation projects . A 1.7% comp against that backdrop is being driven by smaller, self-funded projects rather than a recovery in big-ticket discretionary spend, which is why the beat did not translate into a raised outlook.

Management reaffirmed fiscal 2026 guidance rather than lifting it: total sales growth of approximately 2.5% to 4.5%, comparable sales of flat to up 2.0%, and diluted and adjusted EPS growth of roughly flat to up 4.0% versus 2025 . Holding guidance after a two-line beat signals that the company is treating the quarter's strength as within the range it already assumed, not as evidence of an inflection.

Analysts have pointed to a return on equity of 117.24% and a net margin of 8.41% as evidence that the operating model still converts modest top-line growth efficiently . What to watch from here is whether comps can hold above 1% without a housing-turnover recovery, and whether the mix shift toward small projects starts to weigh on average ticket in the back half.

Related Stocks

• HD