Home Depot reports strong financial results

The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, this morning reported a 20.5 percent increase in earnings for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2014 despite the harsh winter, and company officials said they are optimistic in their outlook for the rest of the year.

The company operates six stores in the Dayton-Springfield region and 13 stores in the greater Cincinnati region.

Home Depot reported net earnings of $1.4 billion, or $1 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.2 billion, or $0.83 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2013. Total sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 were $19.7 billion, a 2.9 percent increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2013, and same-store sales rose 2.6 percent over the same period.

Slow sales in some stores caused by a weather-related slow start to the spring selling season were at least partially offset by solid results in markets where the weather had less or no impact, said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO. The company reaffirmed that it expects full fiscal 2014 sales will be up approximately 4.8 percent from the previous year.

Home Depot operates 2,263 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico, employing more than 300,000.

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