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News Link • Tariffs

Home Depot doesn't plan to raise prices because of tariffs, as U.S. sales show surprise growth

• By James Rogers and Steve Gelsi

Home Depot Inc. ended its five-year run of earnings beats Tuesday, but the stock rose as the home-improvement retailer beat Wall Street's first-quarter revenue expectations and maintained its full-year guidance.

Investors also seemed to appreciate Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail's comments on CNBC that Home Depot HD-1.05%

 doesn't plan to raise prices as a result of tariffs. That follows the drama created by discount retail giant Walmart Inc. 

WMT -0.92%

, which drew criticism from President Donald Trump over the weekend for comments from the company last week that prices would be raised because of tariffs.

"We don't see broad-based price increases for our customers at all going forward," said Billy Bastek, Home Depot's executive vice president – merchandising, during a conference call to discuss the results, according to a FactSet transcript.

Home Depot Chief Executive Ted Decker said that more than 50% of the company's purchases are sourced in the U.S. The company, he added, has built up "tremendous sourcing flexibility" with its supplier partner network. "Twelve months from now, no single country outside of the United States will represent more than 10% of our purchases," the CEO said.

Home Depot's stock 

HD -1.05%

 ended Tuesday's session down 0.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average 

DJIA -0.86%

 dropped about 0.3%.

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