Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Home Depot’s fiscal first-quarter net income jumped 12 percent as a key sales metric improved despite a slow start to the spring selling season due to bad weather but the company still missed both adjusted earnings and revenue expectations.
The company reported first quarter of fiscal 2014 net earnings of $1.4 billion, or $1.00 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.2 billion, or $0.83 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2013. For the first quarter of fiscal 2014, diluted earnings per share increased 20.5 percent from the same period in the prior year.
First quarter of fiscal 2014 results reflect a benefit to earnings, net of tax, of $61 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, related to the sale of a portion of the company’s equity ownership in HD Supply Holdings, Inc.
Total sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 were $19.7 billion, a 2.9 percent increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Comparable store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 were positive 2.6 percent, and comp sales for the U.S. stores were positive 3.3 percent.
“The first quarter was impacted by a slow start to the spring selling season. But we had solid results in non-weather impacted markets and expect our sales for the year to grow in line with the guidance we previously provided,” says Frank Blake, chairman and CEO in a company press release.
The Company reaffirmed that it expects fiscal 2014 sales will be up approximately 4.8 percent from fiscal 2013. The Company raised its fiscal 2014 diluted earnings-per-share guidance and now expects diluted earnings-per-share to be up approximately 17.6 percent to $4.42 for the year. This earnings- per-share guidance includes the $0.04 per diluted share benefit related to the sale of HD Supply common stock, the benefit of the Company’s year-to-date share repurchases and the Company’s intent to repurchase $3.75 billion in additional shares over the remainder of the year.
