Home Depot’s early sales chilled by long winter

The long and brutal winter didn’t just ruin your al fresco spring plans — it also drove Home Depot to miss sales estimates at the start of what’s traditionally its biggest selling season.

But as temperatures heat up, revenue may too for the world’s largest home-improvement retailer, which is already seeing same-store sales in the double digits this month after missing analysts’ first-quarter predictions, according to Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome.

“The whole business is coming back,” with the arrival of warmer temperatures, she said Tuesday. “As we look to the remainder of the year, we are encouraged by what we are seeing in housing and the broader economic environment.”

The company’s lackluster results last quarter added to concerns the U.S. housing market is slackening. Revenue trailed analysts’ estimates, although profit beat projections for the 16th-straight quarter. Shares fell as much as 2.6 percent, the most in more than a month.

Home Depot’s fortunes are so tightly intertwined with the housing market that they are often viewed as a proxy for the sector. The rationale is simple: If Americans feel like their properties are rising in value, they’ll spend more fixing them up.

Revenue rose to $24.9 billion in the period that ended April 29, missing the average projection of $25.2 billion. Earnings amounted to $2.08 a share, Atlanta-based Home Depot said. Analysts projected $2.05.

Sales at stores open for more than a year — a key benchmark for investors — rose 4.2 percent. That missed analysts’ prediction for growth of 5.6 percent, according to Consensus Metrix.

The company said that besides outdoor goods, its business last quarter was solid across other categories. Excluding the weak garden division, first-quarter samestore sales were up 6.5 percent, the company said.