Wednesday April 11 3:08 PM ET
Home Depot Shares Fall on Sales Concerns
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Shares of No. 1 home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD - news) on Wednesday fell about 5 percent, as analysts cited concerns that March sales were weak.
In late New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) trading, Home Depot shares were down $1.87, or 4.4 percent, to $41.14.
Dan Binder, an analyst at Buckingham Research Group, said retailers were down on expectations that March sales were generally soft due to bad weather. He added that Home Depot's decision to open stores on Easter Sunday may trouble investors.
``The natural conclusion that folks are coming to is that they're trying to recapture some sales that may have been soft in March by opening up on Easter,'' Binder said.
Jerry Shields, a Home Depot spokesman, confirmed the company's stores would be open on Easter Sunday, a first for Home Depot. He said the decision has been considered for a long time, and was not made recently.
``We look on it as a business opportunity, and some of the customer base has asked us to be open,'' Shields said.
Home Depot rival Lowe's Cos. (NYSE:LOW - news), whose shares were down 1.7 percent, or 94 cents, to $55.92 on the Big Board, said it planned some time ago to open stores on Easter.
``With the beautiful spring weather that's been occurring across the country in the last few weeks, we think a lot of our customers are anxious to work on spring projects,'' said Chris Ahearn, a Lowe's spokeswoman.
Binder cited concerns that Home Depot may announce an earnings shortfall for its fiscal first quarter if sales didn't pick up, and said Lowe's was facing the same sales issue.
But Dave Ricci of William Blair & Co. said better weather in early April could help Home Depot make up for any March sales weakness. ``April is a much more important month than March,'' Ricci said.
Home Depot is scheduled to report results for its fiscal first quarter on May 15.
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