Home Depot earnings: guidance and what to watch
Home Depot's next results are expected on November 17, 2026. The one thing to watch is whether more sales reflect more projects, not just larger tickets.
What has Home Depot guided for fiscal 2026?
Home Depot expects fiscal 2026 to be a year of modest growth while larger projects wait for easier financing.
Management kept its annual gross-margin and operating-margin outlook unchanged. Higher fuel, energy and product costs are expected to absorb the refund’s benefit over the year, so the second-quarter boost does not by itself change the underlying profit promise.
| The period guided | Low | High | The date it was given | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total sales growth | Fiscal 2026 (Year to Jan 2027) | 2.5% | 4.5% | Aug 18, 2026 |
| Comparable sales growth | Fiscal 2026 (Year to Jan 2027) | 0.0% | 2.0% | Aug 18, 2026 |
| Gross margin | Fiscal 2026 (Year to Jan 2027) | 33.1% | 33.1% | Aug 18, 2026 |
| Operating margin | Fiscal 2026 (Year to Jan 2027) | 12.4% | 12.6% | Aug 18, 2026 |
| Adjusted diluted earnings-per-share to grow | Fiscal 2026 (Year to Jan 2027) | 0.0% | 4.0% | Aug 18, 2026 |
Did Home Depot keep its past promises?
The annual incentive paid 95% of target, while the completed three-year performance-share award paid 70.1%. On November 18, 2025, Decker acknowledged that quarterly results missed expectations and management lowered its outlook. Fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share fell 3.6%, but that was better than the revised forecast of an approximately 5% decline. Management met the reduced expectation, while still delivering lower earnings.
What do Home Depot's last eight quarters show?
The latest quarter showed better sales, but its profit increase depended partly on a tariff refund while customer transactions kept falling.
| Aug 2026 | May 2026 | Feb 2026 | Nov 2025 | Aug 2025 | May 2025 | Feb 2025 | Oct 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 47,861 | 41,765 | 38,198 | 41,352 | 45,277 | 39,856 | 39,704 | 40,217 |
| Gross margin | 33.7% | 33.0% | 32.6% | 33.4% | 33.4% | 33.8% | 32.8% | 33.4% |
| Operating income | 6,839 | 4,981 | 3,849 | 5,353 | 6,555 | 5,133 | 4,495 | 5,418 |
| Net income | 4,766 | 3,289 | 2,571 | 3,601 | 4,551 | 3,433 | 2,997 | 3,648 |
| EPS, diluted | 4.79 | 3.30 | 2.58 | 3.62 | 4.58 | 3.45 | 3.02 | 3.67 |
What should I watch in Home Depot's next results?
Home Depot reports third-quarter results on November 17, 2026. Investors should separate acquired revenue, price increases and comparable growth, then examine customer transactions, average purchase size and large-project demand. More sales dollars do not necessarily mean that more projects took place.