Home Depot Posts Profit Despite Job Loss

The nation’s largest home-improvement retailer, Home Depot Inc., posted fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday that beat what many analysts had predicted.

Excluding any costs incurred by 7,000 job cuts, and the closing of its Expo Design chain, a chain that specialized in  high-end furnishings, Home depot reported profits at 19 cents a share.

Sales are continuing to fall at Home Depot, especially when declining home values mean people are spending less on home-improvement and remodeling, but Home Depot seems to have made the cuts necessary to keep turning a profit.

“The most important thing investors want to see these days is that companies get it,” said analyst David Schick of Stifel Nicolaus & Co.  Investors want to know that management is “prepared to run the business should this environment persist,” he said.

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