HD

Home Depot beat second-quarter estimates, and the story behind the beat is worth understanding. The home improvement space has been stuck in a tough spot — mortgage rates stayed elevated, existing home sales near multi-decade lows, and the renovation cycle that follows a home purchase essentially paused. HD clearing the bar in that environment points to one thing: the professional contractor segment held up. Pros are the less glamorous half of this business, but they spend more per visit, reorder consistently, and don't wait for a home sale to trigger a project. The tell going forward is same-store sales — flat-to-positive there signals genuine demand recovery, not just management trimming costs to dress up the numbers. That's the line to watch in the transcript.