Home Depot 4th-quarter net up 72%; dividend up
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) – Home Depot, the Atlanta home-improvement retailer, reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 72% on 3.8% higher net sales and 3.9% higher comparable-store sales. For the quarter ended Jan. 30, the world’s No. 1 DIY chain earned $587 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with $342 million, or 20 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. Earnings from continuing operations in the latest quarter doubled to 36 cents. Adjusted year-earlier operating earnings were 24 cents. Sales reached $15.13 billion from $14.57 billion. A survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced consensus estimates of 31 cents a share of profit on $14.81 billion of revenue. Home Depot’s board raised the quarterly dividend 6% to 25 cents a share, payable March 24 to holders of record March 10. For fiscal 2012, Home Depot now expects earnings per share from continuing operations to rise 9.5% from fiscal 2011 to $2.20. It sees sales up 2.5% from the fiscal 2011 figure of $68 billion. FactSet’s survey is looking for earnings of $2.24 a share on revenue of $69.28 billion.
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