Total sales for The Home Depot (Atlanta) for the fourth quarter of 2013 were $17.7 billion, a 3.0 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2012. The fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013 consisted of 13 weeks compared with 14 weeks of sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012, according to a report issued Tuesday. That 14th week added approximately $1.2 billion in sales for 2012's fourth quarter and fiscal year. Excluding the additional week in 2012, sales for the fourth quarter were up 3.9 percent from the prior year. Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 increased 4.4 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were up 4.9 percent.
Net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2013 were $1.0 billion, or $0.73 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.0 billion, or $0.68 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2012, reflecting a 7.4 percent increase in diluted earnings per share. The 14th week in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 increased earnings per diluted share by approximately $0.07 in the fourth quarter and fiscal year in 2012. Excluding the 14th week in the prior year, earnings per diluted share increased by 19.7 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.
Sales for 2013 were $78.8 billion, an increase of 5.4 percent from 2012. Excluding the 53rd week in the prior fiscal year, sales for fiscal year 2013 increased 7.2 percent from fiscal 2012. Total company comparable store sales for 2013 increased 6.8 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 7.5 percent for the year. "In 2013, we posted our strongest comp sales growth in 14 years, as solid execution and the recovering housing market aided our performance," Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, said in a statement.
The company also announced that its board of directors declared a 21 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.47 cents per share, payable on March 27 to shareholders of record on the close of business on March 13, 2014. This is the 108th consecutive quarter the company has paid a cash dividend. Additionally, The Home Depot plans to open seven new stores in 2014.
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