Stories related to: Home Depot

Big retailers showed unexpected signs of life in February, beating weak sales predictions to inject some hope into the market. Wal-Mart led the way, posting a 2.6% same-store increase, beating its own predictions of flat-to-2% growth. Overall, same-store sales climbed 1.9%, with more than half of retailers beating predictions, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

Continuing US housing market woes, showing no signs of letting up, helped drag Home Depot’s fourth quarter profits down 27% over the same quarter last year, to $671 million from $925 million. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer also predicted fiscal-year earnings will drop 19% to 24%, more than twice the decline analysts had expected, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

A system designed to compensate retailers for losses incurred by shoplifters has few controls to prevent the extortion or harassment, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Civil recovery” laws allow retailers to turn the names of suspected shoplifters over to collection agencies who demand fees of $200 or much more—even if merchandise was immediately returned to store shelves. More »

A weak housing market hammered Home Depot’s third quarter, sending revenues down 4% and cutting net income 27%, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Atlanta-based retailer today said net income fell to $1.09 billion compared to $1.49 billion a year ago. “We are facing a tough environment as housing indicators continue to deteriorate,” said CEO Frank Black. More »

Ralph Whitworth isn’t happy with Sprint’s priorities or its management, and he’s one shareholder the wireless carrier can’t just laugh off. The principal of Relational Investors has parlayed small shares in Home Depot and Sovereign into the sacking of those corporations’ CEOs; now he says he’s “lost confidence in [Sprint honcho] Gary Forsee,” the Journal reports. More »

Stocks rose slightly today as retail woes were somewhat offset by August home sales that outperformed expectations, MarketWatch reports. Led by Microsoft, which rode the release of “Halo 3” to a 1.5% jump, the Dow climbed 19.59 to 13,778.65. The S&P dipped 0.52 to 1,517.21, and the Nasdaq closed at 2,683.45, up 15.50. More »

The sale of Home Depot's wholesale supply unit—threatened by the credit crisis —is going ahead after tense negotiations between Home Depot, private equity firms buying the company and banks providing the financing. Home Depot slashed its price 18% to $8.5 billion and guaranteed some of the loans to close the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports.      More »

The pending sale of part of Home Depot took an ugly turn last night as three banks and three private equity firms entered into a showdown over financing. Home Depot dropped its asking price by over $1 billion, but the banks involved—JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch—have threatened to withdraw from a deal that may become the  first casualty of the credit crunch. More »

The Dow dipped a quarter-point to close at 13,235.88 today as investors continue to fret over the possibility of a Fed interest rate cut. The S&P 500 dropped 1.57 to 1,462.5, and the Nasdaq fell 11.10 to 2,541.70. Home Depot led the retreat; shares fell fell 2.2% on news that the sale of one of its divisions is in trouble. More »

Ripples from the credit crisis have reached the corporate bond market—threatening to slow down the economy by seriously limiting the ability of major corporations to borrow money for new projects,  the Washington Post reports. Credit problems have already begun to bite into the future plans of Hertz,  Deere & Co. and Home Depot . More »

The markets lost again today, as a small cash manager’s move to halt investor pullouts agitated fears about liquidity, as well as deeper jitters over mortgage woes seeping into credit markets. The Dow fell 207.61 points to 13028.92, dragged down heavily by two major retail components, Wal-Mart and Home Depot, which both released anemic numbers. More »

The tech sector boomed early today, but couldn’t save the market from bank and energy woes at day’s end. Declines in MBIA, Exxon and Home Depot shares helped to erase early gains on the Nasdaq and S&P, and the bankruptcy of Aegis Mortgage Corp. renewed financing worries, Bloomberg reports. More »

Former Home Depot chief Bob Nardelli has a reputation for being a brusque, hard-edged maverick, and that’s exactly what his new bosses at Chrysler want, Reuters reports. Cerberus Capital Management hopes to stem losses at the automaker by cutting costs, particularly in the delicate area of unionized workers. Nardelli’s gruff style may improve numbers—or it may wind up confounding labor negotiations. More »

Tony Stewart took the Allstate 400 in his home state of Indiana yesterday, two weeks after he snapped a winless streak at the USG Sheetrock 400. The Home Depot driver battled for the lead all afternoon, finally grabbing the checkered flag by a 2.98-second margin over Juan Pablo Montoya. More »