Atlanta-based The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, reported on Tuesday sales of $41.8 billion US for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, an increase of $1.9 billion, or 4.8% from the first quarter of fiscal 2025.
Comparable sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 increased 0.6%, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 0.4%. For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, foreign exchange rates positively impacted total company comparable sales by approximately 55 basis points, it noted.
Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 were $3.3 billion, or $3.30 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $3.4 billion, or $3.45 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2025, it said.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 were $3.43, compared with adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.56 in the same period of fiscal 2025, added the retailer.
“Our first quarter results were in line with our expectations. The underlying demand in our business was relatively similar to what we saw throughout fiscal 2025, despite greater consumer uncertainty and housing affordability pressure,” said Ted Decker, chair, president and CEO.
“As always, our associates provided excellent customer service during the quarter, and I would like to thank them for their continued hard work and dedication to serving our customers.”
Fiscal 2026 Guidance
The company reaffirms its fiscal 2026 guidance:
- Total sales growth of approximately 2.5% to 4.5%
- Comparable sales growth of approximately flat to 2.0%
- Approximately 15 new stores
- Gross margin of approximately 33.1%
- Operating margin of approximately 12.4% to 12.6%
- Adjusted operating margin of approximately 12.8% to 13.0%
- Effective tax rate of approximately 24.3%
- Net interest expense of approximately $2.3 billion
- Diluted earnings-per-share to grow approximately flat to 4.0% from $14.23 in fiscal 2025
- Adjusted diluted earnings-per-share to grow approximately flat to 4.0% from $14.69 in fiscal 2025
- Capital expenditures of approximately 2.5% of total sales.
At the end of the first quarter, the company operated 2,361 retail stores and over 1,280 SRS locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs over 470,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
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