Home Depot reports fiscal Q2 net earnings of US$1.4B, up from US$1.2B a year earlier, CEO attributes increase to rebound in seasonal business, storm-related repairs

Wendy Lisney

ATLANTA, Gerogia , August 16, 2011 (press release) – The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported second quarter of fiscal 2011 net earnings of $1.4 billion, or $0.86 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.2 billion, or $0.72 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2010. For the second quarter of fiscal 2011, diluted earnings per share increased 19.4 percent from the prior year.

Sales for the second quarter totaled $20.2 billion, a 4.2 percent increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2010. Comparable store sales for the second quarter were positive 4.3 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 3.5 percent.

“Our second-quarter results were driven by a rebound in our seasonal business, storm-related repairs and strength in our core categories,” said Frank Blake, chairman & CEO. “We continue to deliver a strong operating performance while also investing in customer service and our merchandising initiatives. I would like to thank our associates for their hard work and dedication. It is their efforts that enabled us to deliver these results.”

Updated Fiscal 2011 Guidance

The Company confirmed that it expects fiscal 2011 sales will be up approximately 2.5 percent from fiscal 2010. Based on its year-to-date performance and outlook for the balance of the year, the Company raised its fiscal 2011 diluted earnings-per-share guidance and now expects diluted earnings-per-share from continuing operations to be up approximately 16 percent to $2.34 for the year. This earnings-per-share guidance includes the benefit of the Company’s year-to-date share repurchases, but excludes the impact of future share repurchases.

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 2,245 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China. 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.

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