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Hurricane recovery efforts help Home Depot to deliver forecast-busting Q4 earnings

Last updated: 13:48 20 Feb 2018 GMT, First published: 08:48 20 Feb 2018 GMT

hurricane damage
Hurricanes Irma and Maria swept through parts of the southern United States and the Caribbean towards the end of 2017

A strengthening home improvement market helped DIY retailer Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) to top Wall Street expectations with its fourth-quarter results.

Home Depot’s stock rose 2.2% in premarket trade to US$191.17.

READ: Home Depot launches new, US$15bn stock repurchase program, affirms 2017 profit, sales outlook

The Atlanta-based group said it welcomed more shoppers through the door, who spent more money over the holiday season.

Adjusted earnings came in at US$1.69 for the three months ended January 28, ahead of expectations of US$1.61.

That was on revenues of US$23.9bn - also topping Wall Street forecasts of US$23.7bn.

Same-store sales - a key measure of a retailer’s health which strips out the impact of new and closed stores - rose 7.5% compared to the year-ago quarter, whereas Wall Street number crunchers had expected growth of 6%.

Home Depot said the number of customer transactions rose 2%, while the average ticket increased by 5.5% to US$64 per visit.

Net income for the three-month period came in at US$1.8bn, or US$1.52 a share, compared with US$1.7bn, or US$1.44, a year ago.

Helping to boost performance were the hurricane recovery efforts across the southern parts of the US and Puerto, as home and business owners continued to invest in rebuilding the buildings destroyed towards the end of 2017.

"Our ongoing commitment to enhance the interconnected retail experience for our customers, provide localized and innovative product, and deliver best in class productivity resulted in record sales and net earnings for 2017," said chairman and chief executive Craig Menear.

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