Home Depot beats forecasts thanks to hurricanes

Home Depot earned $2.7 billion in the third quarter, while same-store sales rose 7.9%, beating analysts expectations and sending shares in the company rising, Reuters reports.

The hurricane effect: Home Depot says that hurricane recovery efforts added $282 million to same-store sales, helping it to surpass Wall Street's forecasts.

Why it matters: Home Depot's success of late — the stock is up more than 23% this year and more than 166% since 2012 — can be attributed in part to the fact that its business is resistant to online competition, as the firm sells heavy and bulky items that are difficult to profitably ship to individual customers. It has also benefitted from a robust recovery of home prices over the past five years, which creates incentive for homeowners to invest in repairs and renovations.