Home Depot Q4 Profit Rises; Comps. Up 5.2% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Home Depot Inc. (HD) reported that its net earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 rose to $2.48 billion or $2.28 per share, from $2.34 billion or $2.09 per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018. The extra week of operations added about $0.21 per share to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018.

In Tuesday pre-market trade, HD is currently trading $246.16 up $6.36 or 2.65 percent.

But, quarterly sales declined to $25.78 billion from $26.49 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018. Fiscal 2018 included an extra week of operations compared to fiscal 2019. The extra week of operations added approximately $1.7 billion of sales to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018.

Comparable sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 5.2 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 5.3 percent.

The company said that its board approved a 10 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.50 per share, which equates to an annual dividend of $6.00 per share.

For fiscal 2020, the company expects total sales growth of about 3.5 percent to 4.0 percent, and comparable sales growth of about 3.5 percent to 4.0 percent.