HD Supply Tops Earnings Estimates, Offers Strong Outlook

Industrial distributor HD Supply Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HD) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 results before markets opened Tuesday. For the quarter, the company posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.27 and $1.65 billion in revenues. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.03 on revenue of $1.54 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.24 and $1.63 billion in revenue.

For the full year, HD Supply reported EPS of $1.74 on revenues of $7.39 billion, compared with 2014 EPS of $0.90 and revenues of $8.88 billion. Analysts were looking for EPS of $1.71 and revenues of $7.38 billion.

The company attributed the jump in adjusted earnings to sales growth, gross margin expansion, leveraging fixed costs through sales volume increases and lower interest expenses.

On a GAAP basis, fourth-quarter diluted EPS came to $4.33 and full-year EPS totaled $7.31, compared with a quarterly loss of $0.48 and a full-year profit of $0.02 in 2014. The 2015 total included a $1 billion deferred tax asset valuation allowance, a $189 million non-cash tax credit resulting from an IRS settlement, a $186 million pretax gain on the sale of a business unit and a $100 million loss on extinguishment and modification of debt.
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The company guided 2016 sales growth of approximately 3% in excess of the estimated market growth. For the first quarter, HD Supply forecasts sales in a range of $1.81 billion to $1.86 billion and adjusted EPS in a range of $0.45 to $0.50.

Analysts have a full-year EPS estimate of $2.44 and sales of $7.79 billion. For the first quarter, analysts are looking for EPS of $0.44 and revenues of $1.82 billion.

CEO Joe DeAngelo said:

We delivered 6 percent net sales growth, 13 percent Adjusted EBITDA growth and Adjusted Net Income per Diluted Share of $1.74, despite a challenging and uncontrollable environment. We focused on what we could control and delivered strong profitable growth in excess of market, operating leverage and cash flow.

HD Supply was hived off Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and sold to a consortium of private equity firms in 2007. The company came public in the summer of 2013, and Home Depot sold its remaining stake in the company in 2014.

HD Supply shares closed up about 0.4% on Monday and traded up about 3.6% in the after-hours session, at $29.47, in a 52-week range of $21.26 to $36.81. The stock was inactive in Tuesday’s premarket session. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $35.64 before the results were announced.