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Home Depot's record 3Q
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November 17, 1998: 1:20 p.m. ET
Home improvement retailer says net earnings up 66%, sales up 24%
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Home Depot hammered home some good news Tuesday as it reported record third quarter net earnings.
Home Depot (HD), the world's largest home improvement retailer, reported net earnings of $392 million, 26 cents diluted earnings per share, for the third quarter of fiscal 1998. This is a 31 percent increase from the same period last year, when the company reported $299 million in net earnings, excluding a $104 million pre-tax non-recurring charge in the 1997 period.
Including the non-recurring charge, net earnings increased 66 percent. Third-quarter sales totaled $7.7 billion, a 24 percent boost from $6.2 billion in the third quarter of 1997. Annualized inventory turnover was 5.7 percent through the third quarter of fiscal 1998, compared to 5.6 percent through the third quarter of fiscal 1997.
Arthur Bank, president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based Home Depot, said the third quarter results "continue a pattern of strong and consistent financial performance from the first half of the year."
Home Depot opened 38 stores in the third quarter, including its first two stores outside of North America. At the end of the period, the company operated a total of 717 stores, including outlets in Chile and Puerto Rico.
"They continue to not disappoint," said Alan Mak, analyst with Argus Research. "They're pretty consistent. Given the economy still holds, they should continue to do well."
Mak said Home Depot is facing increased competition from Lowe's, the second-largest home improvement retailer.
"Right now, they tend to have a different customer base," Mak said. "But there is bound to be a convergence. Eventually we will have substantial overlap."
Home Depot was up 3/16 to 47-9/16 in early afternoon trading.
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Home Depot
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