ATLANTA, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $16.0 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, a 5.9 percent increase from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 were positive 5.7 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 6.1 percent.

Net earnings for the fourth quarter were $774 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $587 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2010. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, diluted earnings per share increased 38.9 percent from the prior year.  

Fiscal 2011

Sales for fiscal 2011 were $70.4 billion, an increase of 3.5 percent from fiscal 2010. Total company comparable store sales for the year increased 3.4 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 3.0 percent for the year.

Earnings per diluted share in fiscal 2011 were $2.47, compared to $2.01 per diluted share in fiscal 2010, an increase of 22.9 percent.

"We had a strong finish to 2011, and with favorable weather, our business delivered results that exceeded our expectations," said Frank Blake, chairman & CEO. "I'd like to thank our associates for their hard work and dedication."

Fiscal 2012 Guidance

The Company will have 53 weeks of operating results in fiscal 2012 and provided the following guidance for fiscal 2012:

• Sales growth of approximately 4 percent including the 53rd week
• 53rd week projected to add approximately $1 billion to total sales
• Low single-digit comparable store sales growth for the 52-week period
• 11 new stores
• Moderate gross margin expansion
• Operating margin expansion of approximately 50 basis points
• Tax rate of approximately 37%
• 53rd week expected to contribute approximately 3 cents of diluted earnings per share
• 53-week diluted earnings-per-share growth before share repurchases of approximately 10 percent to $2.72
• 53-week diluted earnings-per-share growth after anticipated share repurchases of approximately 13 percent to $2.79
• Capital spending of approximately $1.325 billion
• Depreciation and amortization expense of approximately $1.65 billion
• Cash flow from the business of approximately $6.6 billion
• Share repurchases of approximately $3.5 billion

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 fourth quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,252 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China. The Company employs more than 300,000 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.

Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, the demand for our products and services, net sales growth, comparable store sales, state of the economy, state of the residential construction, housing and home improvement markets, state of the credit markets, including mortgages, home equity loans and consumer credit, inventory and in-stock positions, commodity price inflation and deflation, implementation of store and supply chain initiatives, continuation of reinvestment plans, net earnings performance, earnings per share, stock-based compensation expense, capital allocation and expenditures, liquidity, the effect of adopting certain accounting standards, return on invested capital, management of our purchasing or customer credit policies, the effect of accounting charges, the planned recapitalization of the Company and the timing of its completion, the ability to issue debt on terms and at rates acceptable to us, store openings and closures, expense leverage, guidance for fiscal 2012 and financial outlook.  Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties – many of which are beyond our control or are currently unknown to us – as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those described in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended January 30, 2011.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements other than as required by law. You are advised, however, to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE The Home Depot