ATLANTA, Nov. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The Home Depot®, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $20.5 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2014, a 5.4 percent increase from the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Comparable store sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 were positive 5.2 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 5.8 percent.
Net earnings for the third quarter were $1.5 billion, or $1.15 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.4 billion, or$0.95 per diluted share, for the same period of fiscal 2013. For the third quarter of fiscal 2014, diluted earnings per share increased 21.1 percent from the same period in the prior year.
Third quarter of fiscal 2014 results reflect a pretax gain on sale of $100 million related to the sale of a portion of the Company’s equity ownership in HD Supply Holdings, Inc. and pretax net expenses of $28 million related to the Company’s data breach.
“During the quarter we saw strong performance across all geographies led by growth in transactions and continued strength in the core of the store,” said Craig Menear, CEO and president. “I would like to thank our associates for their hard work and dedication to our customers, and I would like to thank our customers for their continued confidence in The Home Depot.”
Reaffirmed Fiscal 2014 Guidance
The Company confirmed that it expects fiscal 2014 sales growth of approximately 4.8 percent. The Company also confirmed that it expects fiscal 2014 diluted earnings per share to grow by 21 percent to approximately $4.54. This earnings-per-share guidance includes the benefit of the Company’s year-to-date share repurchases of $5.74 billion and the Company’s intent to repurchase an additional $1.26 billion of shares in the fourth quarter. The earnings-per-share guidance also includes an estimate of net breach-related costs of approximately $34 million for the year.
