ATLANTA - The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported sales of $20.9 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, a 6.1 percent increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Comparable store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 were positive 6.1 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 7.1 percent.

Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 were $1.6 billion, or $1.21 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $1.4 billion, or $1.00 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2014. For the first quarter of fiscal 2015, diluted earnings per share increased 21.0 percent from the same period in the prior year.

First quarter of fiscal 2015 results reflect a benefit to earnings of $71 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, primarily attributable to the settlement of a tax audit.

"We had a stronger than expected start to the year as we experienced a more normal spring across much of the country and continued recovery of the U.S. housing market," said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president. "I would like to thank our associates for their hard work and dedication."

Updated Fiscal 2015 Guidance

The Company has provided a range of sales, comp sales and diluted earnings-per-share growth to reflect the difference between 2014 average exchange rates and current exchange rates. The low-end of the Company's sales, comp sales and diluted earnings-per-share growth guidance reflects the U.S. dollar remaining at current foreign exchange rates.

Based on its year-to-date performance, the Company raised its fiscal 2015 sales guidance and now expects sales will be up approximately 4.2 percent to 4.8 percent and comp sales will be up approximately 4.0 percent to 4.6 percent. The Company also raised its diluted earnings-per-share guidance for the year and now expects diluted earnings per share to grow approximately 11 to 12 percent from fiscal 2014 to $5.24 to $5.27.

This earnings-per-share guidance includes the benefit of a favorable settlement of a tax audit, the Company's year-to-date share repurchases and the Company's intent to repurchase $3.4 billion in additional shares over the remainder of the fiscal year.

The Company's fiscal 2015 diluted earnings-per-share guidance does not include an accrual for contingent losses related to the data breach discovered in September 2014. Other than $7 million of net breach-related costs contained in the Company's first quarter fiscal 2015 earnings, at this time the Company is not able to estimate the costs, or a range of costs, related to the breach. Costs related to the breach may include liabilities to payment card networks for reimbursements of credit card fraud and card reissuance costs; liabilities related to the Company's private label credit card fraud and card reissuance; liabilities from current and future civil litigation, governmental investigations and enforcement proceedings; future expenses for legal, investigative and consulting fees; and additional expenses and capital investments for remediation activities. Those costs may have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial results in fiscal 2015 and/or future periods.

Change in Accounting Policy

During the first quarter of fiscal 2015, the Company voluntarily changed its accounting policy for certain shipping and handling costs from the Company's stores, locations or distribution centers to customers and for online fulfillment center costs. Under the new accounting policy, these costs are included in cost of sales, whereas they were previously included in operating expenses. Including these expenses in cost of sales will better align these costs with the related revenue in the gross profit calculation.

The Consolidated Statements of Earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 have been reclassified to reflect this change in accounting policy. The impact of this reclassification was an increase of $128 million to cost of sales and a corresponding decrease of $128 million to operating expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2014. There is no impact from this reclassification on net sales, operating income, net earnings or earnings per share.

The Home Depot will conduct a conference call today at 9 a.m. ET to discuss information included in this news release and related matters. The conference call will be available in its entirety through a webcast and replay at earnings.homedepot.com.

At the end of the first quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,270 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs more than 300,000 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.