Home Depot and Lowe's recently announced their fourth-quarter sales and earnings results. Both big-box retailers achieved increases in sales and net earnings.
The Home Depot reported sales of $16.0 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, a 5.9% increase from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Net earnings for the fourth quarter were $774 million, compared with net earnings of $587 million in the same period of fiscal 2010. Sales for fiscal 2011 were $70.4 billion, an increase of 3.5 percent from fiscal 2010.
Lowe's reported net earnings of $322 million for the quarter ended Feb. 3, 2012, a 13% increase over the same period a year ago. Sales for the quarter ended Feb. 3, 2012, increased 11% to $11.6 billion, up from $10.5 billion in the same period a year ago. For the fiscal year ended Feb. 3, 2012, sales were $50.2 billion, a 2.9% increase over the prior fiscal year.