New Housing Starts figures for April came in much lower than anticipated, posting -2.6% in new starts, as opposed to the +3.7% expected. A seasonally adjusted annualized 1.17 million new homes were started last month, lower than the 1.26 million expected. Building Permits also underperformed expectations at -2.5% from an expected +0.8%.
These reads have been relatively volatile for most of 2017 so far — a warm February saw a rise in starts and permits earlier in the year, but by March the numbers had gotten a lot softer. April was projected to show a big bounce back, but we’re not seeing it. By region, the Northeast was down 37% year over year, the worst-performing region in April.
There’s nothing tragic in these numbers, but analysts were looking for better. Perhaps we’ll see further revisions as Q2 progresses and the volatile month-over-month reads will continue.
Retail Earnings, Cont.
Home Depot (HD - Free Report) topped earnings and sales expectations in its fiscal Q1 2018 report released before the opening bell this morning. The home improvement retailer brought in $1.67 per share versus the $1.61 expected in the Zacks consensus estimate. Revenues of $23.89 billion for the quarter beat the $23.74 our analysts had been looking for. Global comps were +5.5%, and 6.0% in the U.S. — both figures are better than expected.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS - Free Report) disappointed investors this morning, missing earnings expectations by 2 cents to 52 cents per share on sales that came in exactly as projected by the Zacks consensus at $1.83 billion. But full-year guidance having been ratcheted down below consensus is where the stock is really taking a hit in the pre-market, now down a whopping 12%. Same-store sales also fell short at 2.4% compared to the 3.5% in the Zacks consensus. This is the first quarterly miss for the sports retailer in at least a year.
TJX Companies (TJX - Free Report) shares have also fallen 5% ahead of today’s opening bell even though the company’s 82 cents per share topped the 79 cents anticipated, although quarterly sales of $7.78 billion missed the $7.91 billion we had been expecting. Also, yearly comps came in at 1.0% rather than the 1.6% analysts had projected. TJX typically beats estimates on the bottom line, but we were looking for a stronger quarter from the company this time around.
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New Housing Starts figures for April came in much lower than anticipated, posting -2.6% in new starts, as opposed to the +3.7% expected. A seasonally adjusted annualized 1.17 million new homes were started last month, lower than the 1.26 million expected. Building Permits also underperformed expectations at -2.5% from an expected +0.8%.
These reads have been relatively volatile for most of 2017 so far — a warm February saw a rise in starts and permits earlier in the year, but by March the numbers had gotten a lot softer. April was projected to show a big bounce back, but we’re not seeing it. By region, the Northeast was down 37% year over year, the worst-performing region in April.
There’s nothing tragic in these numbers, but analysts were looking for better. Perhaps we’ll see further revisions as Q2 progresses and the volatile month-over-month reads will continue.
Retail Earnings, Cont.
Home Depot (HD - Free Report) topped earnings and sales expectations in its fiscal Q1 2018 report released before the opening bell this morning. The home improvement retailer brought in $1.67 per share versus the $1.61 expected in the Zacks consensus estimate. Revenues of $23.89 billion for the quarter beat the $23.74 our analysts had been looking for. Global comps were +5.5%, and 6.0% in the U.S. — both figures are better than expected.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS - Free Report) disappointed investors this morning, missing earnings expectations by 2 cents to 52 cents per share on sales that came in exactly as projected by the Zacks consensus at $1.83 billion. But full-year guidance having been ratcheted down below consensus is where the stock is really taking a hit in the pre-market, now down a whopping 12%. Same-store sales also fell short at 2.4% compared to the 3.5% in the Zacks consensus. This is the first quarterly miss for the sports retailer in at least a year.
TJX Companies (TJX - Free Report) shares have also fallen 5% ahead of today’s opening bell even though the company’s 82 cents per share topped the 79 cents anticipated, although quarterly sales of $7.78 billion missed the $7.91 billion we had been expecting. Also, yearly comps came in at 1.0% rather than the 1.6% analysts had projected. TJX typically beats estimates on the bottom line, but we were looking for a stronger quarter from the company this time around.
Zacks Names "Single Best Pick to Double"
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
It’s a little-known chemical company that’s up 65% over last year, yet still dirt cheap. With unrelenting demand, soaring 2022 earnings estimates, and $1.5 billion for repurchasing shares, retail investors could jump in at any time.
This company could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in little more than 9 months and NVIDIA which boomed +175.9% in one year.
Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>
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