Clear skies mean stormy sales for Home Depot

"Our results were below our expectation, largely due to a lack of storms relative to historic norms,"

"We don't plan for storms per se, but there's, there's always some weather impact in the baseline,"

""SRS is much more in the re-roof than new construction," Decker said, "which is why it's disproportionately impacted with storms, particularly in their home and biggest market, which is Texas.""

October's better-than-usual weather reduced customer visits and spending in the third quarter, producing results below expectations. Last year's slightly worse-than-normal weather boosted prior-period sales, making year-over-year comparisons tougher. A lower incidence of storms this year also means fewer post-storm repair projects, which will likely weigh on fourth-quarter sales. Decreased repair demand is contributing to softer results at recently acquired distributors GMS and SRS, which focus on specialty building and roofing supplies. SRS's concentration in re-roofing and its large Texas market make it particularly exposed to storm-activity swings. The multi-year recovery in home improvement demand remains delayed.

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