ATLANTA — The Home Depot reported first quarter of fiscal 2014 net earnings of $1.4 billion, or $1.00 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.2 billion, or $0.83 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2013. For the first quarter of fiscal 2014, diluted earnings per share increased 20.5 percent from the same period in the prior year.
First quarter of fiscal 2014 results reflect a benefit to earnings, net of tax, of $61 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, related to the sale of a portion of the company’s equity ownership in HD Supply Holdings, Inc.
Total sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 were $19.7 billion, a 2.9 percent increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Comparable store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 were positive 2.6 percent, and comp sales for the U.S. stores were positive 3.3 percent.
“The first quarter was impacted by a slow start to the spring selling season. But we had solid results in non-weather impacted markets and expect our sales for the year to grow in line with the guidance we previously provided,” said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO. Analysts had on average predicted total revenues of $19.95 billion.
