(Reuters) -Home Depot Inc missed estimates for U.S. quarterly same-store sales on Tuesday, as the pandemic-driven surge in demand for do-it-yourself home-improvement products waned with people increasingly venturing outside their houses.
The company’s shares, which have gained more than 26% this year, fell 4% in pre-market trading.
Home-improvement chains had a blockbuster 2020 as revenue and profit surged from stuck-at-home Americans splurging on paint, tools, and gardening equipment to upgrade their living spaces through DIY projects.
U.S. same-store sales at Home Depot rose just 3.4% in the second quarter, compared with a 25% jump a year earlier, as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines encouraged more Americans to return to outdoor activities and leave behind some pandemic-induced shopping habits.
Analysts had expected U.S. same-store sales to rise 4.9%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
