Weather affects Home Depot sales

The Home Depot had sales of $37.3 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, a decrease of 4.2% from the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Comparable sales for the quarter decreased 4.5% and comparable sales in the US decreased 4.6%. Sales were below expectations due to lumber deflation and unfavourable weather. Gross profit was $12.6 billion for the quarter, down 4.5% compared to gross profit of $13.1 billion in the year-ago period. The company had net earnings of $3.9 billion compared with net earnings of $4.2 billion in the prior-year period. Customer transactions were down 4.8% year over year, average ticket sales were up 0.2%, and sales per square foot were down 4.7%.