Shares of Home Depot (NYSE: HD) are getting nailed this morning following a weak first quarter earnings report from the home improvement retailer.

Going into this morning’s earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see the Atlanta based retailer to post earnings of 37 cents per share, but the company disappointed those expectations, with actual earnings of only 21 cents a share, on net income of $356 million. Sales dropped 3.4% in the quarter, mostly a result of a 6.5% drop in same store sales.

The main culprit being the weak housing market and rising gasoline costs that resulted in a 66% decline in profit for the company compared to the same period last year.

Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of Home Depot, stated that “housing and home improvement markets remained difficult in the first quarter… conditions worsened in many areas of the country.”

Shares of the stock are trading down by 2.8% in premarket trading, down $0.83 from yesterday’s close of $28.87.

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