ATLANTA, Dec. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Home Depot®, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, will host its 2019 Investor and Analyst Conference today, where it will provide an update on key strategic priorities and discuss its preliminary outlook for Fiscal Year 2020.
Today’s conference will begin at 9 a.m. ET and will be available in its entirety through a live webcast and replay at ir.homedepot.com in the Events & Presentations section.
One Home Depot Strategy
Customers expect a frictionless, interconnected shopping experience. As a result, in fiscal 2018, the Company began a three-year, accelerated investment program to position itself as One Home Depot. This One Home Depot strategy is creating a truly interconnected shopping experience by allowing customers to seamlessly blend the digital and physical worlds.
Investments to deliver on this strategy follow a customer-back approach, touching every aspect of the Company’s business. These investments and capabilities – including store enhancements and new e-commerce solutions, industry-leading delivery options, and a comprehensive Pro ecosystem – will further unlock the interconnected retail vision the Company began building many years ago.
“We are confident that the investments we are making in the One Home Depot experience will address the evolving needs of our customers. We are building on our distinct competitive advantages to capitalize on a large and fragmented market opportunity and extend our leadership position for years to come,” said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president.
Fiscal Year 2019 Guidance
The Company reaffirmed its guidance for fiscal 2019, a 52-week year compared to fiscal 2018, a 53-week year, as follows:
- Total sales growth of approximately 1.8 percent and comparable sales growth for the comparable 52-week period of approximately 3.5 percent
- Diluted earnings-per-share growth of approximately 3.1 percent from fiscal 2018 to $10.03
Preliminary Outlook for Fiscal Year 2020
In addition, the Company is providing a preliminary fiscal 2020 outlook as follows:
- Total sales growth of approximately 3.5 percent to 4.0 percent
- Comparable sales growth of approximately 3.5 percent to 4.0 percent
- Operating margin of approximately 14.0 percent
- Return on invested capital of approximately 45 percent
The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,291 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2018, The Home Depot had sales of $108.2 billion and earnings of $11.1 billion. The Company employs more than 400,000 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.
Certain statements contained in today’s presentations constitute “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, the demand for our products and services; net sales growth; comparable sales; effects of competition; implementation of store, interconnected retail, supply chain and technology initiatives; inventory and in-stock positions; state of the economy; state of the housing and home improvement markets; state of the credit markets, including mortgages, home equity loans and consumer credit; impact of tariffs; issues related to the payment methods we accept; demand for credit offerings; management of relationships with our associates, suppliers and vendors; continuation of share repurchase programs; net earnings performance; earnings per share; dividend targets; capital allocation and expenditures; liquidity; return on invested capital; expense leverage; stock-based compensation expense; commodity price inflation and deflation; the ability to issue debt on terms and at rates acceptable to us; the impact and expected outcome of investigations, inquiries, claims and litigation; the effect of accounting charges; the effect of adopting certain accounting standards; the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and other regulatory changes; store openings and closures; guidance for fiscal 2019 and beyond; financial outlook; and the integration of acquired companies into our organization and the ability to recognize the anticipated synergies and benefits of those acquisitions. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events, and actual results could differ materially from our expectations and projections. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties – many of which are beyond our control, dependent on the actions of third parties, or are currently unknown to us – as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended February 3, 2019 and in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements other than as required by law. You are advised, however, to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.