Home Depot's quarterly profit rises 27%

Home Depot Inc.'s fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 27%, thanks in part to a debt-extinguishment gain, as sales in its U.S. stores continued to rise and margins improved
The nation's largest home-improvement retailer has steadily improved its sales despite facing a difficult housing market, with demand from professional customers showing particular improvement of late
Home Depot also raised its earnings outlook for the year to $2.90 a share on 4.6% sales growth, up from its February call for earnings of $2.72 a share on roughly 4% sales growth
"We saw a stronger-than-expected start to the year, driven by record warm weather and continued demand for core products," said Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Blake
For the quarter ended April 29, Home Depot reported a profit of $1.04 billion, or 68 cents a share, up from a year-earlier profit of $812 million, or 50 cents a share. the most-recent quarter included a 3 cents a share gain from the termination of a senior secured loan
Sales increased 5.9% to $17.81 billion
Analysts expected earnings of 65 cents a share on $17.96 billion in revenue, according to a poll conducted by Thomson Reuters
Same-store sales rose 5.8%, and were up 6.1% in the U.S
Gross margin edged up to 34.7% from 34.6%
Average ticket and transaction volume continued to increase, rising 2.2% and 3.9%, respectively