Home Depot Sees Small Project Bump Amid Sluggish Housing Market

Home Depot's sales improved during its second quarter as customers focused on smaller projects during the summer months, despite the US housing sector still being in a slump.

Revenue increased to $47.86 billion from $45.28 billion, edging out the $47.24 billion that Wall Street had expected, according to a survey by FactSet.

Globally, sales at stores open at least a year climbed 1.7%, while in the US, comparable store sales rose 1.3%.

Customer transactions slipped 1% in the quarter, but the amount shoppers spent increased to $92.50 per average receipt from $90.01 a year earlier.

'We saw broad-based demand across the business as customers continued to engage in smaller projects,' said Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail.