The Home Depot Posts Q3 Sales Decline

The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $37.7 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2023, a decrease of 3.0% from the third quarter of fiscal 2022. Comparable sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 decreased 3.1%, and comparable sales in the U.S. decreased 3.5%.

Net earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 were $3.8 billion, or $3.81 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $4.3 billion, or $4.24 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2022.

“Our quarterly performance was in line with our expectations,” said Ted Decker, chair, president and CEO. “Similar to the second quarter, we saw continued customer engagement with smaller projects, and experienced pressure in certain big-ticket, discretionary categories. We remain very excited about our strategic initiatives and are committed to investing in the business to deliver the best interconnected shopping experience, capture wallet share with the Pro, and grow our store footprint. In addition, our associates did an outstanding job delivering value and service for our customers throughout the quarter and I would like to thank them for their dedication and hard work.”

Fiscal 2023 Guidance

The company narrowed its prior fiscal 2023 guidance range:

• Sales and comparable sales to decline between 3% and 4% compared to fiscal 2022
• Operating margin rate to be between 14.2% and 14.1%
• Tax rate of approximately 24.5%
• Interest expense of approximately $1.8 billion
• Diluted earnings-per-share-percent-decline between 9% and 11% compared to fiscal 2022

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 third quarter, the company operated a total of 2,333 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 470,000 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.

Source : The Home Depot

Image : Rob Wilson / shutterstock.com (180692453)

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