Housing Market Boosts Home Depot Q4, Fiscal Year

For the fiscal 2015 fourth quarter, The Home Depot posted net earnings of  $1.5 billion, or $1.17 per diluted share, versus $1.4 billion, or $1.05 per diluted share, in the year-ago period. Comparable store sales were up 7.1%, while comps for stores operating in the United States gained 8.9%.

An analyst average estimate published by MarketBeat called for diluted earnings per share of $1.10.

The retailer reported sales of $21 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, up 9.5% compared to the year-prior period.  

For the full fiscal year, net earnings were $7.01 billion, or $5.46 per diluted share, versus $6.35 billion, or $4.71 per diluted share, in the fiscal year earlier. Comps increased 5.6% company wide and gained 7.1% in U.S. stores. Sales for fiscal 2015 were $88.52 billion, an increase of 6.4% from fiscal 2014.

Fiscal 2015 results included a pretax net expense of $128 million, or six cents per diluted share, related to Home Depot's 2014 data breach, of which $9 million, which translates to less than a cent per diluted share, was recognized in the fourth quarter, the company noted.

"Our focus on improving the interconnected customer experience, along with solid execution and continued recovery in the U.S. housing market, resulted in record sales and net earnings for 2015," said Craig Menear, Home Depot chairman, president and CEO.

At fourth quarter's end, Home Depot operated a total of 2,274 retail stores in all 50 of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.