ATLANTA, May 15, 2018 -- The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $24.9 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2018, a 4.4 percent increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Comparable sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2018 were positive 4.2 percent, and comp sales in the U.S. were positive 3.9 percent.
Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2018 were $2.4 billion, or $2.08 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $2.0 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2017. For the first quarter of fiscal 2018, diluted earnings per share increased 24.6 percent from the same period in the prior year.
“We are pleased by the strength of our business despite a slow start to the spring selling season,” said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president. “Outside of our seasonal business, we had solid results in all markets and categories and are seeing strong momentum in all lines of business during these first few weeks of May. These trends, as well as a favorable housing and macroeconomic backdrop, give us confidence to reaffirm our sales and earnings guidance for fiscal 2018. I would like to thank our associates for their hard work and continued dedication to our customers.”
Fiscal 2018 Guidance
Including the adoption of ASU No. 2014-09 discussed below, the Company expects its fiscal 2018 sales to grow by approximately 6.7 percent and comp sales to be up approximately 5.0 percent. The Company also reaffirmed its diluted earnings-per-share growth guidance for the year and expects diluted earnings-per-share growth of approximately 28.0 percent from fiscal 2017 to $9.31.
Recent Accounting Pronouncement – Revenue Recognition
During the first quarter of fiscal 2018, the Company adopted ASU No. 2014-09, which pertains to revenue recognition. The adoption of this standard will not materially impact the Company’s consolidated financial statements or related disclosures. Under ASU No. 2014-09, the Company has changed the presentation of certain expenses and cost reimbursements associated with its private label credit card program, certain expenses related to the sale of gift cards to customers, and gift card breakage income. The Company also has changed its recognition of gift card breakage income to be recognized proportionately as redemption occurs, rather than based on historical redemption patterns.
The Company has adopted this standard on a modified retrospective basis. In accordance therewith, financial information prior to fiscal 2018 will not be recast. The consolidated statement of earnings and balance sheet for the first quarter of fiscal 2018 reflect the effect of this accounting policy adoption. The impact of adoption was an increase of $33 million to net sales, a decrease of $98 million to cost of sales, and a corresponding increase of $131 million to operating expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2018. There is no impact from the Company’s adoption on operating income, net earnings or earnings per share. The balance sheet reflects the cumulative impact of adoption using the modified retrospective method as well as the impact of recording the sales return allowance on a gross basis rather than as a net liability. Additional information about the impact of the adoption of ASU No. 2014-09 is available at http://ir.homedepot.com/financial-reports/quarterly-earnings/2018.
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 http://ir.homedepot.com/events-and-presentations.
At the end of the first quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,285 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 400,000 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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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 sales; effects of competition; implementation of store, interconnected retail, supply chain and technology initiatives; issues related to the payment methods we accept; 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; demand for credit offerings; inventory and in-stock positions; management of relationships with our suppliers and vendors; continuation of share repurchase programs; net earnings performance; earnings per share; dividend targets; capital allocation and expenditures; liquidity; return on invested capital; expense leverage; stock-based compensation expense; commodity price inflation and deflation; the ability to issue debt on terms and at rates acceptable to us; the impact and expected outcome of investigations, inquiries, claims and litigation; the effect of accounting charges; the effect of adopting certain accounting standards; the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017; store openings and closures; guidance for fiscal 2018 and beyond; financial outlook; and the integration of acquired companies into our organization and the ability to recognize the anticipated synergies and benefits of those acquisitions. 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 January 28, 2018 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.
For more information, contact:
Financial Community
Isabel Janci
Vice President of Investor Relations
770-384-2666
isabel_janci@homedepot.com
News Media
Stephen Holmes
Senior Director of Corporate Communications
770-384-5075
stephen_holmes@homedepot.com
