Home Depot guidance up: A sign of consumer spending?

The Home Depot (HD), by far the largest supplier of home improvement items at retail, said its financial results would be better than expected for the current fiscal year. That probably means homeowners are doing a little more spending than saving and contractors may be seeing a brightening of their prospects.

The company said that it is updating its FY2009 EPS guidance and now expects earnings per share from continuing operations to be flat to down 7 percent from last year. On an adjusted basis, the HD now expects earnings per share from continuing operations to decline by 20 percent to 26 percent.