Home Depot Inc. (HD) has had a tough year, along with other home-improvement retailers. In August the company reported soft second-quarter earnings and cautioned that it expects only slight gains for the rest of 2006, according to this BusinessWeekOnline report. One week later Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) had similar dismal news with drab second-quarter results and a warning of sales slowdowns in their future.
A weakening housing market coupled with higher energy prices has kept profits and stock prices down for both retailers. Adjusting for dividends and splits, shares of both Atlanta-based Home Depot and Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe's were down about 15% for the year through Aug. 21. By comparison, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 stock index gained 3.9% over the same period.
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