Home Depot has gone from the second-biggest retailer to the No. 3 spot, according the National Retail Federation and Stores Magazine.

In the annual ranking, released Monday, Home Depot slipped a spot as Kroger, the supermarket chain, fell in behind Wal-Mart, which has held the No. 1 spot since the ranking was first done in 1991. The rankings are by revenue.

The National Retail Federation blamed the weakening housing market for Home Depot's slip and pointed to Kroger's fuel sales.

The rest of the top 10 retailers: CVS Caremark, Costco, Target, Walgreen, Sears, Lowe's and Supervalu.

—- Rachel Tobin Ramos

H&R Block posts profit; shares rise

Shares of H&R Block Inc., the biggest U.S. tax preparer, rose 2.8 percent after the company posted its first quarterly profit in two years and announced a $2 billion share repurchase and a dividend boost.

Net income was $543.6 million in the quarter ended April 30, or $1.66 a share, compared with a loss of $85.6 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier, on narrowing losses from discontinued mortgage units, the Kansas City-based company said Monday in a statement.

Higher revenue from tax preparation drove a 15 percent gain in pretax income to $1.1 billion.

Chairman Richard Breeden, a hedge fund manager and former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has said he wants to gain 55 million new tax customers in a "major assault."

Breeden closed a $1.3 billion sale of H&R Block's mortgage servicing unit to WL Ross & Co. in May, completing the company's exit from a subprime mortgage business that caused more than $1 billion in losses.

"This marks a return and perhaps signals that the worst is behind the company," said Alexander Paris Jr., research director at Barrington Research Associates.

—- Bloomberg News