Home Depot Posts Strong Sales Growth as Pandemic Continues to Fuel Demand
February 23 2021 - 7:22AM
Dow Jones News
By Matt Grossman
Home Depot Inc. logged strong sales growth year over year for
the November-to-January quarter and raised its dividend, but the
company's finance chief said that the trend could flatten this year
as the company faces comparisons from its robust 2020 results.
Home Depot's revenue in the latest quarter was $32.26 billion, a
25% increase compared with $25.78 billion in the same three-month
period a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast
revenue of $30.63 billion in the quarter.
Over the full fiscal year, the company's sales rose by 20% to
$132.11 billion. That growth follows a broader trend of people
spending more on home-related goods during the pandemic, as
lockdowns and telecommuting focused attention on the home. The
public-health crisis has also shifted consumer behavior in
retailers' favor by weighing on services spending, such as on
travel, leisure and restaurants.
In the latest quarter, the number of Home Depot customer
transactions rose 12.8% to 416.8 million, and the average
transaction size grew to $75.69, from $68.29 in 2019's fourth
quarter. The company finished the quarter with 2,296 retail
stores.
Home Depot Tuesday posted fourth-quarter earnings of $2.86
billion, or $2.65 a share, compared with $2.48 billion, or $2.28 a
share, a year earlier. Analysts had been forecasting earnings of
$2.61 a share.
Citing uncertainty caused by the pandemic, Home Depot declined
to provide formal guidance for its 2021 results. Chief Financial
Officer Richard McPhail estimated that if late-2020 demand levels
continue into this year, comparable sales -- a figure that corrects
for changes in store count -- will be flat or slightly positive in
2021.
Home Depot also raised its quarterly dividend by 10% to $1.65 a
share, equal to $6.60 annually.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 23, 2021 07:07 ET (12:07 GMT)
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