UPDATE 1-Home Depot sees growth -- when market stabilizes
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  (Adds quotes from chairman, share price, details)\nATLANTA, June 5 (Reuters) - Retailer Home Depot Inc <HD.N>,\nsaid on Thursday it expects to deliver double-digit per-share\nprofit growth annually and sales growth of 3 percent to 5\npercent a year -- after current market conditions stabilize.\nBut for this year, the world's largest home improvement\nchain told its analyst meeting in Atlanta that it was more\ncomfortable with the low end of its previous forecast for a\ndecline of 19 percent to 24 percent in earnings per share.\n"We see more negatives than positives for the remainder of\nthis year," Home Depot Chairman Frank Blake said during the\nmeeting, which was broadcast over the Internet.\nThe retailer, which has stepped up investments to upgrade\nstores and hire licensed plumbers and electricians to serve\ncustomers, also said it was reducing "unproductive" promotions\nand plans to open more distribution centers to speed product\nflow to its stores and lower logistics costs.\nThe crumbling U.S. housing market has compounded troubles\nfor Home Depot as higher prices for food and gasoline cut into\nconsumer spending. Falling home values, slower housing sales\nand tighter credit have curbed demand for big-ticket renovation\nprojects.\nHome Depot's quarterly profit has fallen for the past seven\nquarters, and rival Lowe's Cos <LOW.N> has posted three\nstraight quarterly profit declines.\n"Calling the recovery in our market remains an exercise of\nuncertainty," said Blake, who was named to Home Depot's top job\nafter Robert Nardelli resigned under fire in early 2007.\nBlake said Home Depot would continue to improve aging\nstores that most drive its earnings and sales growth. He said\nthe retailer has more than 650 stores that are older than 10\nyears, and these stores as a group are almost 20 percent more\nproductive than the company average.\nHome Depot last month said it would close about 15\nunderperforming U.S. stores and scrap plans for about 50 U.S.\nstores that had been in new-outlet pipeline. New-store spending\nwill be cut by about $1 billion over the next three years. Home\nDepot has more than 2,260 stores in the United States, Mexico,\nCanada and China.\nHome Depot shares were up 80 cents, or nearly 3 percent, to\n$27.98 in early New York Stock Exchange trading, while Lowe's\nwas up 50 cents to $24.54.\n(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; editing by John Wallace)\n((karen.jacobs@thomsonreuters.com; 1 404 493-3656; Reuters\nMessaging: karen.jacobs.reuters.com@reuters.net))\nKeywords: HOMEDEPOT/