Homeowners Are Spending, Home Depot is Winning

ATLANTA (AP) _ The Home Depot Inc. (HD) on Tuesday reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $2.87 billion.

The Atlanta-based company said it had net income of $2.51 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.27 per share.

The home-improvement retailer posted revenue of $26.3 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $26.21 billion.

Home Depot expects full-year earnings to be $9.75 per share.

Home Depot shares have dropped slightly more than 5 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has climbed 2 percent. The stock has increased slightly more than 9 percent in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HD at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HD