Home Depot Up In Q4, For Full-Year

Home Depot’s earnings have reportedly reaped the benefits of a strong U.S housing market. Earlier this week, Home Depot reported that Q4 sales beat analysts’ projections, hitting $22.2 billion. Same-store sales rose 5.8 percent in Q4. Home Depot said it added $11 billion to the top line over the past two years and targets 4.6 percent in comp sales growth through 2017.

“Our focus on providing localized and innovative product selection, improving the interconnected customer experience, and driving productivity resulted in record sales and net earnings for 2016,” said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president. “Turning to 2017, overall GDP growth and strength in the U.S. housing market should continue to support growth in our business.”

Home Depot Q4 2016 net earnings hit $1.7 billion, some $1.44 per diluted share, up 23 percent from 1.17 per share ($1.5 billion net earnings) in the same period of 2015. Sales for fiscal 2016 were $94.6 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent from fiscal 2015. Total company comparable store sales for fiscal 2016 increased 5.6 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were up 6.2 percent for the year.

Home Depot reported that its online business grew over 19 percent last year, said Fortune. Online sales now represent 5.9 percent of the retailer’s total sales. Home Depot reported that some 45 percent of online orders in the U.S. are picked up in-store.

In its outlook, Home Depot reported it will spend around $2 billion of capital on its business in 2017, with a large chunk of that reportedly going toward enhancing its eCommerce offerings. The home improvement icon has been pursuing beacons and chatbots for mobile consumers, who account for some 50 percent of the company’s online traffic.

While many big-name retailers struggled in the past few years, Home Depot and Lowe’s, the two top home improvement retailers in the U.S. marketplace, controlling 41 percent of all sales as of early 2016, have continued to beat the industry trend of diminished customer spending and reduced sales.