Home Depot tops second-quarter estimates on steady repair demand

The company kicks off earnings reports from big-ticket retailers that could shed light on the health of the U.S. consumer, as the war with Iran intensifies cost-of-living concerns. Closest rival Lowe's LOW.N and Target TGT.N report on Wednesday, followed by Walmart WMT.O a day later.

Last week, Home Depot said CEO Ted Decker, 63, will take a temporary medical leave of absence, with Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail and Senior Executive Vice President Ann-Marie Campbell overseeing his duties.

Decker, whose condition was not disclosed, is expected to return within the next few months and will not join the post-earnings call, a spokesperson confirmed to Reuters.

Stubbornly high interest rates have pushed homeowners toward small-scale repair and maintenance projects such as painting and yard work, boosting demand at Home Depot.

The prolonged slump in the U.S. housing market has been the biggest drag on the home-improvement industry. Hopes for a recovery this year have been dampened as affordability concerns keep away prospective buyers.

Home Depot offers products across a broad price spectrum, from roughly $5 to upwards of $5,000, with an average basket size of about $90.

The company's shares rose about 1% in choppy premarket trading.

Home Depot HD.N beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter sales and profit on Tuesday, as resilient demand for smaller repair-and-maintenance projects helped offset a sluggish U.S. housing market.

The world's largest home-improvement retailer said sales increased 5.7% to $47.86 billion in the three months ended August 2, topping analysts' expectations of $47.27 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.