The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported fourth quarter and fiscal 2020 results.

Sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 were $32.3 billion, an increase of $6.5 billion, or 25.1 percent from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 increased 24.5 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 25.0 percent.

Net earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 were $2.9 billion, or $2.65 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $2.5 billion, or $2.28 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2019. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, diluted earnings per share increased 16.2 percent from the same period in the prior year. Net earnings for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year were negatively impacted by non-recurring, pre-tax expenses related to the completion of the acquisition of HD Supply Holdings, Inc. on December 24, 2020, which totaled approximately $110 million, or $0.09 per diluted share.

Fiscal 2020

Sales for fiscal 2020 were $132.1 billion, an increase of $21.9 billion, or 19.9 percent, from fiscal 2019. Comparable sales for fiscal 2020 increased 19.7 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 20.6 percent.

Net earnings for fiscal 2020 were $12.9 billion, or $11.94 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $11.2 billion, or $10.25 per diluted share in fiscal 2019. For fiscal year 2020, diluted earnings per share increased 16.5 percent versus the prior year.  

"The team demonstrated ongoing flexibility to operate effectively in a very challenging environment and deliver record-breaking sales and earnings. Our ability to grow the business by over $21 billion in fiscal 2020 is a testament to both the investments we have made in the business as well as our associates' unwavering commitment to our customers," said Craig Menear, chairman and CEO. "We continue to lean into these investments because we believe they are critical in enabling market share growth in any economic environment. I am proud of the many ways our associates lived our values by serving our customers, communities and each other during these unquestionably challenging times, and I would like to thank them and our supplier partners for their extraordinary efforts."

Fiscal 2021

Given the uncertainty related to the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on the consumer, the Company believes it is limited in its ability to forecast demand for fiscal 2021. As a result, the Company is not providing guidance for fiscal 2021.

"We were pleased with our record financial performance in fiscal 2020. As we look ahead to fiscal 2021, while we are not able to predict how consumer spending will evolve, if the demand environment during the back half of fiscal 2020 were to persist through fiscal 2021, it would imply flat to slightly positive comparable sales growth and operating margin of at least 14 percent," said Richard McPhail, executive vice president and CFO.  

Dividend Declaration

The Company today announced that its board of directors approved an increase in its quarterly dividend by 10.0 percent to $1.65 per share, which equates to an annual dividend of $6.60.

The dividend is payable on March 25, 2021, to shareholders of record on the close of business on March 11, 2021. This is the 136^th consecutive quarter the Company has paid a cash dividend.

The Home Depot will conduct a conference call today at 9 a.m. ET to discuss information included in this news release and related matters. The conference call will be available in its entirety through a webcast and replay at ir.homedepot.com/events-and-presentations.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,296 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs approximately 500,000 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.