Home Depot continued to advance in the third quarter, growing comps, sales and earnings.
In the third quarter, The Home Depot recorded net earnings of $1.97 billion, or $1.60 per diluted share, compared with $1.73 billion, or $1.35 per diluted share, in the period a year earlier. A Thomson Reuters analyst average estimate called for earnings per diluted share of $1.58.
Comparable store sales advanced 5.5% company-wide and 5.9% in the U.S. Sales were $23.15 billion, up 6.1% from the 2015 third quarter. Operating income was $3.32 billion versus $2.98 billion in the year-prior quarter.
“We experienced balanced sales growth in the quarter driven by an increase in both ticket and transactions, and our continued focus on productivity drove double-digit earnings-per-share growth,” said Craig Menear, Home Depot chairman, president and CEO.
Home Depot operates a total of 2,276 retail stores in the U.S., the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.
