Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
The Home Depot® reported sales of $43.2 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2024, an increase of 0.6% from the second quarter of fiscal 2023. Total sales include $1.3 billion from the recent acquisition of SRS Distribution Inc. (SRS), which represents approximately six weeks of sales in the quarter. Comparable sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 decreased 3.3%, and comparable sales in the U.S. decreased 3.6%.
Operating income for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 was $6.5 billion and operating margin was 15.1%, compared with operating income of $6.6 billion and an operating margin of 15.4% for the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
“The underlying long-term fundamentals supporting home improvement demand are strong,” says Ted Decker, chair, president and CEO. “During the quarter, higher interest rates and greater macro-economic uncertainty pressured consumer demand more broadly, resulting in weaker spend across home improvement projects.”
Fiscal 2024 Guidance
The company updated its fiscal 2024 guidance, which includes 53 weeks of operating results, to reflect the performance in the first half of fiscal 2024 and include SRS. The company anticipates total sales to increase between 2.5% and 3.5% including the 53rd week. It also projects SRS to contribute approximately $6.4 billion in incremental sales. Home Depot is projecting a gross margin for the fiscal year of about 33.5%, compared to its original projection of 33.9%. The company’s gross margin for fiscal year 2023 was 33.4%.
Home Depot anticipates comparable sales to decline between 3% and 4% for the 52-week period compared to fiscal 2023, in expectation of consumer demand continuing to be soft.
Through the end of its fiscal year, Home Depot says it plans to add 12 new stores. At the end of the second quarter, the company operated a total of 2,340 retail stores and over 760 branches across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.
