The Home Depot^®, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, reported sales of $38.9 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of $1.4 billion, or 3.8 percent from the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Comparable sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 increased 2.2 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 1.7 percent.

Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 were $4.2 billion, or $4.09 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $4.1 billion, or $3.86 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2021, representing a 6.0 percent increase in diluted earnings per share.

See related article: https://esgnews.com/esg-environmental-social-and-governance-top-trends-thematic-research-report-2021-esg-framework-esg-action-feedback-loop-esg-related-survey-results-and-esg-timeline-researchandmarkets-com/

“Fiscal 2022 is off to a strong start as we delivered the highest first quarter sales in Company history,” said Ted Decker, CEO and president. “The solid performance in the quarter is even more impressive as we were comparing against last year’s historic growth and faced a slower start to spring this year. These results are a direct reflection of our associates’ continued ability to effectively navigate a challenging and dynamic environment. I would like to thank them and our many partners for their hard work and dedication to our customers.”

Fiscal 2022 Guidance

The Company raised fiscal 2022 guidance and now expects:

• Total sales growth and comparable sales growth of approximately 3.0 percent
• Operating margin of approximately 15.4 percent
• Net interest expense of approximately $1.6 billion
• Tax rate of approximately 24.6 percent
• Diluted earnings-per-share-percent-growth to be mid-single digits

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 ir.homedepot.com/events-and-presentations.

At the end of the first quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,316 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs approximately 500,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

Source: Home Depot