By Michael Calia And Chelsey Dulaney
Home Depot Inc. posted better-than-expected results in its
latest quarter on a surge in U.S. sales, though the
home-improvement retailer gave a cautious outlook for the year,
citing the strong U.S. dollar.
Home Depot also announced that it has boosted its quarterly
dividend by 26% and authorized an $18 billion share repurchase
program to replace its prior authorization.
For 2015, Home Depot said it expects to post per-share earnings
of $5.11 to $5.17 on sales growth of 3.5% to 4.7%. At current
rates, the company estimated that foreign exchange rates would
bring down its 2015 sales growth by $1 billion and its per-share
earnings by 6 cents.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had recently projected
per-share earnings of $5.23 on sales growth of 5%.
Under Craig Menear, who became chief executive last year, Home
Depot has sought to improve on recent steady sales growth. The
company, like its smaller rival Lowe's Cos., has been one of the
main retail beneficiaries of the improving U.S. housing market as
consumers pursue renovations and other projects. Earlier this
month, the company said it would hire 80,000 workers for the spring
and summer season this year, matching last year's level.
Home Depot has also had to contend with the aftermath of a
widespread data breach last year.
The company has said it faces several dozen civil suits in the
issue in which millions of customers' credit-card information and
emails were stolen. To combat future thefts, the company has
completed a project to encrypt credit-card data at the point of
sale.
Home Depot said Tuesday that it couldn't yet estimate costs of
the breach.
For the quarter ended Feb. 1, Home Depot posted same-store sales
growth of 7.9%, excluding newly opened or closed stores. U.S.
stores posted 8.9% growth, while total customer transactions rose
5.1%. Average ticket rose 3% to $57.79.
Overall, the company reported earnings of $1.38 billion, or
$1.05 a share, up from $1.01 billion, or 73 cents a share, a year
earlier. The quarter's results included a $111 million gain on the
sale of a portion of the company's ownership in HD Supply Holdings
Inc.
Excluding the gain, per-share earnings were $1.
Net sales increased 8.3% to $19.16 billion.
Analysts had expected earnings of 89 cents a share and revenue
of $18.7 billion.
Write to Michael Calia at michael.calia@wsj.com and Chelsey
Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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