DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Home Depot Inc.'s (HD) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose a better-than-expected 32% as strong sales in its U.S. stores gave results a boost. The nation's largest home-improvement retailer has steadily improved its sales despite a difficult U.S. housing market. Chief Executive Frank Blake on Tuesday also noted that a mild winter this year helped the company exceed its expectations. Looking to the new year, Home Depot predicted a full-year profit of $2.72 a share--or $2.79 after expected stock buybacks--on roughly 4% sales growth. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are currently looking for $2.77 a share and 4% sales growth. For the quarter ended Jan. 29, Home Depot reported a profit of $774 million, or 50 cents a share, up from a year-earlier profit of $587 million, or 36 cents a share. Sales increased 5.9% to $16.01 billion. Wall Street analysts expected a per-share profit of 42 cents on revenue of $15.51 billion. Same-store sales rose 5.7%, and were up 6.1% in the U.S. Gross margin widened to 35% from 34.7%. Shares closed Friday at $46.71 and were inactive premarket. The stock has risen 11% since the start of the year. -By Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3207; mia.lamar@dowjones.com
