Shares of Home Depot, Inc. were gaining around 3 percent in the pre-market activity after the home improvement retailer reported Tuesday higher Comparable sales in the fourth quarter, even as profit and total sales declined from last year. The firm also maintained its forecast for fiscal 2026.
Ted Decker, chair, president and CEO, stated, "For the fourth quarter, our results were largely in-line with our expectations, reflecting the lack of storm activity in the third quarter and ongoing consumer uncertainty and pressure in housing. Adjusting for storms, underlying demand was relatively stable throughout the year."
Looking ahead for fiscal 2026, the company continues to project earnings per share on a reported and adjusted basis to grow approximately flat to 4.0 percent from $14.23 and $14.69, respectively, in 2025.
Total sales growth is still expected to be approximately 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent from last year's $164.68 billion, with comparable sales growth of approximately flat to 2.0 percent.
The firm continues to project adjusted operating margin to be approximately 12.8 percent to 13.0 percent, lower than prior year's 13.1 percent.
Further, the firm announced that its board of directors approved a 1.3 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to $2.33 per share, which equates to an annual dividend of $9.32 per share.
The dividend is payable on March 26, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 12. This is the 156th consecutive quarter the company has paid a cash dividend.
In the fourth quarter, Home Depot's net earnings totaled $2.571 billion or $2.58 per share, down 14.2 percent from $2.997 billion or $3.02 per share last year.
Adjusted earnings were $2.72 per share for the period, compared with $3.13 a year ago.
The fourth-quarter of fiscal 2025 consisted of 13 weeks compared with 14 weeks for the prior year. The 14th week in fiscal 2024 added approximately $0.30 to quarterly earnings per share.
Adjusted operating income declined 13.4 percent year-over-year to $4.02 billion, and adjusted operating margin dropped to 10.5 percent from 11.7 percent a year ago.
The company's sales for the period fell 3.8 percent to $38.198 billion from $39.704 billion last year. Last year's 14th week added around $2.5 billion of sales to the fourth quarter.
Comparable sales for the fourth quarter increased 0.4 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 0.3 percent.
In the pre-market activity, the shares were gaining around 2.9 percent, at $387.80, after closing Monday's regular trading 1.4 percent lower.
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