NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Home Depot Inc. posted a jump in fiscal second-quarter earnings Tuesday that beat Wall Street's expectations as the nation's largest home improvement retailer raised its outlook for future profits.
The company, on the back of strong sales, earned $1.6 billion, or 71 cents a share, excluding special items, up from net income of $1.3 billion, or 56 cents, in the year-earlier period. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call were forecasting earnings per share of 64 cents.
After a change in accounting practices in the quarter, the company had net income of $1.5 billion, or 70 cents a share.
The company said it now expects full fiscal year EPS growth of 14 to 17 percent, up from its earlier guidance of 10 to 14 percent. That should bring EPS to $2.14 to $2.20 a share.
First Call's forecast is for EPS of $2.16, up from $1.88 a share it earned in the year ending in January.
The company posted a record quarterly revenue of $19.96 billion, up 11 percent from $17.99 billion a year earlier.
"For the first time in our company's 25-year history, we achieved $20 billion in sales in a single quarter. This achievement demonstrates that our knowledgeable associates are delivering on our company's core purpose: to improve everything we touch," Home Depot chairman and CEO Bob Nardelli said in a statement.
The retailer's same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, grew 4.8 percent in the quarter, while the average amount spent per customer was up 8.2 percent, or $4.13, to $54.73. It said it saw sales growth across all different categories of products and geographic region.
The cost of goods sold increased only 7.4 percent in the period, which allowed improvement in its gross profit margin to 33.4 from 31.2 percent a year earlier. Gross profit margin reflects the percentage of sales left after the cost of goods.
Home Depot's balance sheet looked solid. The company ended the quarter with $38.3 billion in total assets, including $3.7 billion in cash and stockholders' equity of $22.5 billion.
It announced that it completed its $6 billion share repurchase program in the second quarter. Earlier this month, the company's board of directors authorized an additional $1 billion share repurchase program, bringing the total to $7 billion.
Shares of Home Depot (HD: Research, Estimates), a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, rose 84 cents to $33.98 in Monday trading after its largest competitor, Lowe's Cos. (LOW: Research, Estimates), raised its outlook despite missing second-quarter earnings forecasts.
Shares of Home Depot were higher in European trading immediately following the early-morning report.
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