Home Depot finished 2015 with a financial flourish, posting solid gains in revenue and profit for both the fourth quarter and the full year.
The company’s message: 2016 should bring more of the same.
Carol Tome, chief financial officer for the Atlanta-based home improvement giant, said the company expects the nation to add 1.9 million new households in 2016 — up from 1.3 million in 2015.
That, she said, should translate to consumers looking to the chain for everything from furnishings for the kitchen to tools needed to hang the family portrait on the living room wall.
“Of the 18- to 34-year-olds out there, 30 percent of them are living at home with their parents,” Tome said. Many will be ready to make their first foray into living on their own in 2016 and Home Depot could benefit, she said.
The continued growth in housing, warmer-than-expected weather and falling unemployment lifted Home Depot to $88.5 billion in sales in 2015, up 6.4 percent over the previous year. Fourth quarter 2015 sales reached $21 billion, up 9.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014.
Full-year profit was $7 billion, vs. $6.34 billion for the prior year. Fourth quarter profit was $1.5 billion, up from $1.4 billion.
Carter Harrison, an analyst at retail researcher Conlumino, said Tuesday in research notes that the warmer weather and its effect on Home Depot’s performance can’t be understated. Mild weather let consumers work on outdoor projects longer and helped the home improvement sector overall.
“This is all the more impressive given that it comes off the back of a very robust performance last year when sales increased by 8.3 percent on a total basis and by 7.9 percent in same store terms,” he said.
Home Depot shares rose $1.68 to $124.53. The share price has more than tripled in the past five years, though it is down 5.8 percent so far in 2016.
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