Home Depot’s Profit Rises a Strong 53%

Home Depot Inc. reported a 53% jump in earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter as a strong U.S. housing market, mild weather and store discounts spurred sales.

The No. 1 home-improvement retailer’s earnings grew to $710million, or 30 cents a share, better than the 28-cent estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call. Sales for the quarter ended Feb. 3 rose 29% to $13.5billion, while sales at stores open at least a year increased 5%.

The company said it expects same-store sales to rise a mid-single-digit percentage in the first quarter and that gross margins will be slightly better than a year earlier.

Shares of Atlanta-based Home Depot fell 56 cents to $51.51 on the NYSE, hurt by a report of a bigger-than-expected drop in consumer confidence in February.