During this quarter, sale increased by 4.3% from the second quarter of fiscal 2014. At the same time, comparable store sales rose 4.2%, and comparable sales for U.S. stores were up 5.7%.
The company raised its guidance for the current fiscal year. Home Depot now expects sales will grow in the range of 5.2% to 6.0%, comparable sales will grow in the range of 4.1% to 4.9%, and EPS will grow in the range of 13% to 14%. There are consensus estimates that call for $5.27 in EPS on $87.06 billion in revenue.
At the end of the second quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,270 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs more than 300,000 associates.
Craig Menear, Chairman, CEO and President of Home Depot, commented on earnings:
We were pleased with this quarter’s results. We saw balanced growth across our business resulting from strength in the core of the store as well as the continued recovery of the U.S. housing market. I would like to thank our associates for their hard work and dedication.
On the books, Home Depot had $4.94 billion in cash and cash equivalents compared to $4.22 billion in the same period from the previous year, and $1.72 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.
So far in 2015 Home Depot shares have outperformed the market; shares are up 15.3% year to date, while they were up a whopping 46% over the past 52 weeks.
Shares of Home Depot closed Monday relatively flat at $119.70 on its 52-week trading range of $83.29 to $120.75. Following the release of the earnings report shares were up 1.1% at $120.98 in early trading indications. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $124.57.
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