Home Depot's Earnings Beat Last Year's by 17%

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Home Depot (NYS: HD) reported earnings on Aug. 14. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended July 29 (Q2), Home Depot met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew slightly and GAAP earnings per share expanded significantly.


Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
 Home Depot reported revenue of $20.57 billion. The 24 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated net sales of $20.73 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 1.7% higher than the prior-year quarter's $20.23 billion.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $1.01. The 26 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.98 per share. GAAP EPS of $1.01 for Q2 were 17% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.86 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 34.2%, 20 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 12.5%, 120 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 7.4%, 70 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $17.90 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.70.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $73.84 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.98.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 3,355 members out of 4,285 rating the stock outperform, and 930 members rating it underperform. Among 1,096 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 934 give Home Depot a green thumbs-up, and 162 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Home Depot is outperform, with an average price target of $55.06.

Can your portfolio provide you with enough income to last through retirement? You'll need more than Home Depot. Learn how to maximize your investment income and get "The 3 DOW Stocks Dividend Investors Need." Click here for instant access to this free report.

The article Home Depot's Earnings Beat Last Year's by 17% originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend The Home Depot. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Advertisement