The Home Depot Announces Second Quarter Results; Raises Fiscal Year 2013 Guidance

ATLANTA, Aug. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Home Depot^®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $22.5 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2013. On a like for like basis, comparable store sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 were positive 10.7 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 11.4 percent. Total sales increased 9.5 percent from the second quarter of fiscal 2012. Due to the 14th week in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, second quarter sales were impacted by a calendar timing change that resulted in one less week of spring sales in the second quarter when compared to the same period of fiscal 2012. This shift reduced total sales growth by approximately $249 million or 120 basis points.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20030502/HOMEDEPOTLOGO )

Net earnings for the second quarter were $1.8 billion, or $1.24 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.5 billion, or $1.01 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2012. For the second quarter of fiscal 2013, diluted earnings per share increased 22.8 percent from the same period in the prior year.  

"The second quarter results exceeded our expectations as our business benefited from a rebound in our seasonal categories, continued strength in the core of the store and the recovering housing market in the U.S.," said Frank Blake, chairman & CEO. "Our associates did an outstanding job of responding to the strong increased demand.  I would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication."

Updated Fiscal 2013 Guidance

Based on its year-to-date performance and outlook for the balance of the year, the Company raised its fiscal 2013 sales guidance and now expects sales to be up approximately 4.5 percent with comparable store sales up approximately 6.0 percent for the year. The Company raised its fiscal 2013 diluted earnings-per-share guidance and now expects diluted earnings per share to be up approximately 20 percent to $3.60 for the year. The Company's fiscal 2013 sales and earnings-per-share guidance is based on a 52-week year compared to fiscal 2012, a 53-week year.

This earnings-per-share guidance includes the benefit of the Company's year-to-date share repurchases totaling $4.3 billion and the Company's intent to repurchase $2.2 billion of additional shares over the remainder of the year.

The Home Depot will conduct a conference call today at 9 a.m. ET to discuss information included in this news release and related matters. The conference call will be available in its entirety through a webcast and replay at earnings.homedepot.com.

At the end of the second quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,258 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs more than 300,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.

Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, the demand for our products and services, net sales growth, comparable store sales, state of the economy, state of the residential construction, housing and home improvement markets, state of the credit markets, including mortgages, home equity loans and consumer credit, inventory and in-stock positions, commodity price inflation and deflation, implementation of store and supply chain initiatives, continuation of share repurchase programs, net earnings performance, earnings per share, capital allocation and expenditures, liquidity, return on invested capital, management of relationships with our suppliers and vendors, stock-based compensation expense, the effect of accounting charges, the effect of adopting certain accounting standards, the ability to issue debt on terms and at rates acceptable to us, store openings and closures, expense leverage, guidance for fiscal 2013 and beyond and financial outlook.  Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties – many of which are beyond our control or are currently unknown to us – as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those described in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended February 3, 2013 and in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements other than as required by law. You are advised, however, to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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(1) Includes depreciation of distribution centers and tool rental equipment included in Cost of Sales and amortization of deferred financing costs included in Interest Expense.

SOURCE The Home Depot