Home Depot posts strongest Q1 sales in its history; raises full-year outlook

The Home Depot came fast out of the gate in its first quarter, with strong earnings and record sales.

The home improvement giant’s net sales rose 3.8% to $38.91 billion in the quarter ended May 1, easily topping expectations of $36.71 billion. Same-store sales increased 2.2%. Comparable sales in the U.S. increased 1.7%.

Net income totaled $4.23 billion, or $4.09 per share, up from $4.15 billion, or $3.86 per share, in the year-ago period. Analysts were looking for earnings of $3.69 per share.

It was the first quarter with new CEO Ted Decker at the helm. The Home Depot veteran took the reins of the chain on March 1.

“Fiscal 2022 is off to a strong start as we delivered the highest first-quarter sales in company history," Decker stated. “The solid performance in the quarter is even more impressive as we were comparing against last year’s historic growth and faced a slower start to spring this year.”

For fiscal 2022, the company raised its earnings per share growth outlook to the mid-single digits percentage range from low single digits. It now expects total sales and same-store sales growth of about 3%, compared with previous expectations that they would be slightly positive.

At the end of the first quarter, the retailer operated a total of 2,316 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.