Stimulus Checks Lessen Home Depot Pain

Updated from 9:42 a.m.

Home Depot(HD Quote) on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in its quarterly profit, but the results beat estimates as the company benefited from consumers spending their government stimulus checks.

Home Depot, the country's largest home-improvement retailer, which I have in the Bricks and Mortar mock portfolio, remains a 2009 turnaround story. The company's retail sales have historically correlated with housing sales, which remain weak today.

The company's sales fell 5.4% from a year ago to $21 billion in the second quarter. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 7.9%, or 7.2%, excluding the effect of 2007 having 53 fiscal weeks. ...