Home Depot delivers mixed 1Q results

Dow component Home Depot reported a first-quarter profit of $2.08 per share, beating the Wall Street's estimate of $2.05, but sales at the world's largest home improvement retailer missed expectations due to a "slow start to the spring selling season."

Revenue was $24.9 billion; the revenue estimate was for $25.15 billion. Also, sales at stores open at least a year, known as comparable store sales, rose 4.2 percent, missing expectations of 5.38 percent.

Shares of Home Depot fell approximately 2% in premarket trading.

"We are pleased by the strength of our business despite a slow start to the spring selling season," Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president, said in a statement. "Outside of our seasonal business, we had solid results in all markets and categories and are seeing strong momentum in all lines of business during these first few weeks of May".

The company, which reaffirmed its sales and earnings outlook for the entire year on "a favorable housing and macroeconomioc backdrop," expects its fiscal 2018 sales to grow by approximately 6.7 percent and comparable store sales to be up approximately 5 %.

In the first quarter of 2017 Home Depot reported a profit of $1.67 on revenue of $23.89 billion. Fourth-quarter profit came in at $1.52 per share on revenue of  $23.9 billion.