Home Depot sales, earnings rise

Atlanta – The Home Depot reported sales of $19.1 billion during first quarter fiscal 2013, a 7% increase from $17.8 billion in the same quarter of 2012. Home Depot credited $574 million of this $1.3 billion increase to the addition of an extra week to the first quarter of this year. Net earnings rose 20%, from $1 billion to $1.2 billion.



Home Depot chairman and CEO Frank Blake said that the company had a strong quarter despite experiencing less favorable weather than last year. “We continue to see benefit from a recovering housing market that drove a stronger-than-expected start to the year for our business,” said Blake.



At the end of the first quarter, Home Depot operated a total of 2,257 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.