Home Depot, a leading home improvement retailer, reported lower-than-expected comparable sales for the fourth quarter, which led to a decline of more than 4% in its shares in pre-market trading on Tuesday. The company's earnings per share stood at $3.30 on revenue of $35.8 billion, while the market consensus was $3.28 on sales of $35.96 billion. However, Home Depot's comparable sales fell 0.3% in Q4, worse than the expected increase of 0.3%. The US comparable sales declined 0.3%, better than the expected decline of 0.9%. The company also reported a 6% drop in customer transactions and a 5.8% increase in the average ticket, missing the 6.4% consensus. Furthermore, Home Depot expects flat sales growth and comparable sales growth relative to 2022, which disappointed investors.
