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The Home Depot (NYSE:HD), the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $26.4 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2019, a 5.7% increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2018.
Comparable sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 were positive 2.5% and comparable sales in the U.S. were positive 3%. In the first quarter, the difference between the Company's sales growth and comparable sales performance reflects a shift in the calendar base due to 53 weeks of sales in fiscal 2018.
Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 were $2.5 billion, or $2.27 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $2.4 billion, or $2.08 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2018. For the first quarter of fiscal 2019, diluted earnings per share increased 9.1 percent from the same period in the prior year.
Said CEO Craig Menear, "We were pleased with the underlying performance of the core business despite unfavorable weather in February and significant deflation in lumber prices compared to a year ago."
The company reaffirmed its guidance for fiscal 2019, a 52-week year compared to fiscal 2018, a 53-week year. The Company expects its fiscal 2019 sales to grow by approximately 3.3% and comp sales for the comparable 52-week period to be up approximately 5%.
The Company also reaffirmed its diluted earnings-per-share growth guidance for the year and expects diluted earnings-per-share growth of approximately 3.1% from fiscal 2018 to $10.03.
Shares dipped $3.03, or 1.6%, to $187.82
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