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Home Depot fourth quarter earnings beat expectations

Published 02/24/2015, 06:13 AM
© Reuters. Home Depot Q4 earnings beat expectations, announce share buyback plan
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Investing.com - Home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE:HD) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings on the back of strong revenue figures, it announced early Tuesday.

Home Depot said adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.00 in the fourth quarter, above expectations for adjusted earnings of $0.89 per share.

Fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 results reflect a pretax gain on sale of $111 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, related to the sale of a portion of the company's equity ownership in HD Supply Holdings, Inc.

Home Depot's fourth quarter revenue totaled $19.16 billion, beating forecasts for revenue of $18.69 billion.

Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 were positive 7.9% and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 8.9%.

"We had a strong finish to the year, as strength across the store, the recovering U.S. housing market and solid execution aided our business in 2014," said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president.

The company announced that its board of directors declared a 26% increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.59 cents per share.

"The board increased the dividend for the sixth time in as many years, representing our commitment to create value for our shareholders," said Menear.

The board of directors also authorized an $18.0 billion share repurchase program, replacing its previous authorization.

The company warned that a stronger U.S. dollar could negatively affect 2015 full-year earnings.

Following the release of the report, HD shares inched up 0.2% in pre-market trade to $112.50 from Monday's closing price $112.28.

Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was mildly higher. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 0.1% at the open, the S&P 500 futures indicated a rise of 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures increased 0.1%.

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