Home Depot 4th Quarter Results

Shares of Home Depot Inc. (HD) dropped 1.8% in premarket trading on Tuesday following the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter results. The home improvement retail giant reported a decrease in same-U.S. store sales, along with a downbeat full-year outlook. Despite this, the company raised its dividend by 7.7%.

Quarterly Performance

• Net Income: $2.8 billion, or $2.82 per share, down from $3.36 billion, or $3.30 per share, in the previous year but beating the FactSet consensus of $2.77.
• Sales: $34.79 billion, a 2.9% decrease from the previous year but higher than the FactSet consensus of $34.64 billion.
• Same-Store Sales: Overall declined by 3.5% with U.S. same store sales down 4.0%, missing the consensus expectations of a 3.6% decline.

Full-Year Outlook

• EPS Growth: Expected to be around 1%, below the current FactSet consensus of 3.0% growth.
• Sales Forecast: Anticipates a 1% increase with same-store sales down 1%, compared to FactSet’s projections of a 1.4% rise and a 0.4% decline in same-store sales.

Dividends

Home Depot also announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $2.25 per share from $2.09 per share, payable on March 21 to shareholders of record on March 7.

Stock Performance

Despite the quarterly results, Home Depot’s stock has surged by 17.6% over the last three months, outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average which has seen a 9.9% increase during the same period.