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BUSINESS
Home Depot Q1 profit, transactions climb
CHICAGO -- Customers returned to Home Depot Inc. in its fiscal first quarter, boosting the home improvement super store chain's profit and raising a key performance measure for the first time since 2005, the company said Tuesday.
The results come after years of efforts to improve customer service at Home Depot, tweak its merchandise assortment and win back customers who fled for competitors.
"Are we back? We still have lots of opportunities," CFO Carol Tome told The Associated Press during an interview. "But are we better? We're much better."
So much better that revenue in U.S. stores open at least a year rose 3.3 percent. Home Depot earned $725 million, or 43 cents per share, for the three-month period that ended May 2. That compares with $514 million, or 30 cents per share, during the same period last year.
Adjusted profit was 45 cents per share, which excludes a one-time, $33 million cost related to extending the company's guarantee of a third-party loan.
