OREANDA-NEWS. The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $21.8 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, a 6.4 percent increase from the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Comparable store sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 were positive 5.1 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 7.3 percent.
Net earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 were $1.7 billion, or $1.35 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.5 billion, or $1.15 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2014. For the third quarter of fiscal 2015, diluted earnings per share increased 17.4 percent from the same period in the prior year.

Third quarter of fiscal 2015 results include a pretax expense of $20 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, related to the Company's 2014 data breach.

"During the quarter, we saw broad-based growth across our geographies and product categories, led by growth in transactions from both our DIY and Pro customers," said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president. "I would like to thank our associates for their hard work and dedication to our customers."

Updated Fiscal 2015 Guidance

Based on its year-to-date results and the outlook for the fourth quarter, the Company expects fiscal 2015 sales growth of approximately 5.7 percent, with comps of approximately 4.9 percent. The Company also expects fiscal 2015 diluted earnings per share to grow by approximately 14 percent to $5.36. This guidance assumes foreign exchange rates remain at current levels through the fourth quarter. The Company's diluted earnings-per-share guidance includes the benefit of its intent to repurchase an additional $2 billion of shares in the fourth quarter, bringing total fiscal 2015 share repurchases to $7 billion.

On December 8 at 9 a.m. ET, the Company will hold an Investor and Analyst Conference. All presentations will be webcast live at ir.homedepot.com in the Events & Presentations section.

The Home Depot will conduct a conference call today at 9 a.m. ET to discuss information included in this news release and related matters. The conference call will be available in its entirety through a webcast and replay at earnings.homedepot.com.

At the end of the third quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,273 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs more than 370,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.