Steve Helber/AP Images Home Depot missed on both the top and bottom lines. The company's same-store sales grew slower than expected. Full-year profit guidance also fell short of estimates. Watch Home Depot trade live. Home Depot was down 2.22% to $185.76 a share after early Tuesday reporting disappointing fourth-quarter earnings and delivering full-year profit guidance that fell short of expectations. The home-improvement retailer said it earned $2.09 a share, missing the $2.16 that was expected, according to Bloomberg data. Home Depot generated sales of $26.5 billion, just shy of the $26.6 billion that analysts were looking for. Meanwhile, the company reported same-store sales grew 3.2% year-over-year, missing the 4.5% growth that was expected. "We achieved record sales and net earnings in fiscal 2018, while making great progress on the strategic investments we laid out in December of 2017," said CEO Craig Menear in a press release. "We focused on enhancing the interconnected retail experience for our customers, providing localized and innovative product, and delivering best in class productivity." Looking ahead, the company sees 2019 full-year earnings of $10.03 a share versus the $10.26 that was expected. Home Depot was up 7% this year through Monday. MI NOW WATCH: Meet the three women who married Donald Trump<doc-sep>Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Feb. 26, 2019, 9:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants See all our earnings call transcripts . Prepared Remarks: Operator Good day and welcome to the Home Depot Fourth Quarter 2018 Earnings Call. Today's conference is being recorded. If you would like to ask a question during today's call, please press "*1" on your touchtone phone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Isabel Janci. Please go ahead, ma'am. Isabel Janci -- Vice President, Investor Relations Thanks you, Christine, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today on our fourth quarter earnings call. Joining us on our call today are Craig Menear, Chairman, CEO, and President; Ted Decker, Executive Vice President of Merchandising; and Carole Tomé, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Services. Following our prepared remarks, the call will be open for questions. Questions will be limited to analysts and investors and, as a reminder, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If we are unable to get to your question during the call, please call our Investor Relations department at 770-384-2387. Before I turn the call over to Craig, let me remind you that today's press release and the presentations made by our executives include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors identified in the release and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Today's presentations will also include certain non-GAAP measures. Reconciliation of these measures is provided on our website. Now, let me turn the call over to Craig. Craig Menear -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Isabel, and good morning, everyone. Fiscal 2018 was another record year for our business, as we achieved the highest sales and net earnings in company history. Fiscal 2018 sales grew $7.3 billion to $108.2 billion, an increase of 7.2% from fiscal 2017, while diluted earnings per share grew 33.5% to $9.73. And although fiscal 2018 was a record year for our business, our fourth quarter comp sales were slightly below our expectations, as the quarter experienced some unfavorable weather. Sales for the fourth quarter were $26.5 billion, up 10.9% from last year. Comp sales were up 3.2% from last year and our U.S. comps were positive 3.7%. Diluted earnings per share were $2.09 in the fourth quarter. Internationally, Mexico posted another quarter of positive comps in local currency, while Canada was essentially flat. As we mentioned on last quarter's call, our fourth quarter faced tough comparisons given the prior year's approximately $400 million in hurricane-related sales that would not repeat and we planned for this in our outlook. But as Carol will detail, what we did not plan for was the extent of the unfavorable weather we experienced in all regions throughout the quarter. It was cold, it was snowy, and perhaps worst of all, it was wet. Wet weather delays projects and this was evidenced in our sales performance in the quarter. In fact, as Carol will detail, ex-weather, our business performed in line with our expectations. As Ted will discuss, both ticket and transactions grew in the quarter and we saw growth in both pro and DIY categories. Pro sales once again outpaced DIY sales in the quarter and the work that we're doing to enhance the service capabilities for our pros continues to resonate. I am very proud of our associates for continuing to do what they do best: serving our customers. Our merchants, store teams, supplier partners, and supply chain teams did an outstanding job of delivering value and service to our customers throughout the quarter, both in stores and online. In fact, several key accomplishments took place during the quarter. We set record performances on Black Friday and during Cyber Week. Our holiday décor offering and gift center events set new all-time highs and during the quarter, we reached a new watermark of approximately 2 billion annual visits on homedepot.com, with many of these visitors indicating that their next stop is a Home Depot store. In fiscal 2018, we made progress with regard to the One Home Depot investment plan but we are still in the early days of our journey. Our strategic effort to drive an enhanced, interconnected customer experience through investments in both the physical and digital worlds are yielding solid returns. We also continue to focus on productivity as a virtuous cycle by leveraging technology and improving processes throughout the value chain of our business. Fiscal 2018 provided a lot of great learnings and momentum that we will continue to build on in 2019. I'm particularly excited about the investments we're making for our pros. In the quarter, we announced the consolidated go-to-market approach for our pro customers under the banner "Home Depot Pro" and we continue to invest in a more personalized offering for our pro customers with a new B2B website experience. We have now onboarded over 100,000 pro customers and the reception has been positive. Our plan is for continuous enhancements, with new features and capabilities. For example, in response to customer feedback, we are adding the ability for businesses to enhance account management and ordering capabilities with improved tools. Our intent is to roll out this new pro online experience to over 1 million pros in 2019. Beyond B2B personalization, we continue to make great strides in driving our digital experience. This year, we invested in our website and mobile applications, improving search capabilities, site functionality, and product content. This ongoing investment in our digital properties has increased traffic and conversion. Versus prior year on a like-for-like basis, online sales grew 22.7% in the fourth quarter and 24.1% in fiscal 2018, now representing 7.9% of our total sales. While we are seeing significant growth in our online sales, these online shoppers see the relevance of our stores, as approximately 50% of our online U.S. orders are picked up in our stores, a testament to the power of our interconnected retail strategy. We continue to roll out automated lockers in our stores to make picking up an online order easier and more convenient. To date, approximately 1,000 stores have lockers, with more to come in 2019. Customer response to the lockers has been very positive, as almost 94% of customers rated their locker pickup experience a 5 out of 5 stars. We fundamentally believe that when a customer comes to one of our stores, it has to be a great experience. With our investment program, approximately 40% of our U.S. stores now have a new look and feel and customer response has been very positive. The store investments are not just about the customer response, as we are also seeing increased associate engagement and higher productivity. Another key component of a best-in-class interconnected shopping experience centers on enhanced delivery and fulfillment options. Fiscal 2018 was the year of the pilot, as we kicked off our $1.2 billion investment journey to create the fastest, most efficient delivery network for home improvement goods. We are now live with a number of these pilot facilities. We look to fiscal 2019 as a year to take what we have learned in pilot and begin the rollout that we expect to complete by 2022. As a demonstration of the confidence in the business going forward, today our board announced a 32% increase in our quarterly dividend to $1.36 per share. The board also authorized a new share repurchase program with $15 billion, replacing our existing authorization. We remain committed to maintaining disciplined capital allocation to create value for our shareholders. Turning to 2019 and beyond, I'm excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us. Carol will take you through the details but we expect 2019 to be another year of growth, with sales growth of approximately 3.3%, comp sales of 5%, and diluted earnings per share of approximately $10.03. Our strong performance in fiscal 2018 also positions us well with respect to our 2020 financial targets and, today, we are reaffirming those targets. It's an exciting time to be a part of the Home Depot and we look forward to the work ahead as we continue our journey to create the One Home Depot experience. There's a great deal of change being introduced throughout the business but as they always do, our associates are rising to the occasion, meeting new challenges head-on without losing the passion to serve our customers that has made the Home Depot what it is today. I want to close by thanking our associates for their hard work and dedication to our customers in the fourth quarter and throughout the year. For the second half of the year, 100% of our stores will receive success sharing, our bonus program for our hourly associates. We look forward to continuing our momentum in 2019. And, with that, let me turn the call over to Ted. Ted Decker -- Executive Vice President of Merchandising Thanks, Craig, and good morning, everyone. When we look through the unfavorable weather we experienced in the fourth quarter, we were pleased with how the business performed. Looking at our departments, comps in tools, appliances, décor, indoor garden, building materials, outdoor garden, hardware, and paint were above the company average. Electrical, plumbing, flooring, millwork, and kitchen and bath were positive but below the company average. Due primarily to price deflation, lighting and lumber reported low to mid-single digit negative comps. In the fourth quarter, average ticket increased 2.3% and comp transactions increased 0.9%. The fourth quarter finished what was a volatile year in many commodity markets, particularly lumber. For example, during the second quarter, we saw lumber prices that were more than 40% higher than they were in the year prior. These prices fell significantly during the third and fourth quarter and now sit approximately 25% below last year's prices. While this deflation pressures sales, we have seen strong unit growth as prices have come down and this unit productivity drives activity across the store. During the fourth quarter, deflation in lumber negatively impacted average ticket growth by approximately 41 basis points. However, this deflation was largely offset by inflation in other core commodity categories for a net impact to average ticket from core commodities of negative eight basis points. During the fourth quarter, big ticket transactions, or those over $1,000.00, which represent approximately 20% of U.S. sales, were up 4.8%. A number of factors served as headwinds to big ticket sales in the fourth quarter, notably unexpected wet weather across the U.S. and lapping last year's hurricane-related sales. Excluding hurricane-effected markets, we see that January's big ticket comp was up almost double digits, in line with what we saw throughout 2018. Big ticket categories like vinyl plank flooring, roofing, and appliances all had comps above the company average in the fourth quarter. We saw growth with both our pro and do-it-yourself customers in the fourth quarter, with pro sales growing faster than the company's average comp. We continue to see strong performance in pro-heavy categories, like power tools, water heaters, and commercial and industrial lighting. Sales to our DIY customers grew year-over-year, as our customers completed a variety of interior projects. Categories like hard window coverings, safety and security, and cleaning all posted strong growth in the quarter. We also saw record performance with our annual gift center and holiday sets. Additionally, the combination of outstanding values from our suppliers, the right assortments from our merchants, and phenomenal execution in our stores led to the single highest sales day in our company's history on Black Friday. As part of our journey to enhance the One Home Depot experience, we are significantly investing in our digital assets to provide a frictionless, interconnected shopping experience. Earlier this year, we formed approximately 50 cross-functional squads focused on agile development to improve our online customer experience. These teams have accomplished a great deal in a short period and are driving results.<doc-sep>
Home Depot (HD) - Get Report posted weaker-than-expected fourth quarter earnings Tuesday thanks in part to a $247 million charge linked to Interline brands division while forecast slower 2019 profit growth. Home Depot said earnings for the three months ending in January, the company's fiscal fourth quarter, came in at $2.09 per share, up 37.5% from the same period last year but just shy of the Street consensus of $2.16 per share. Group revenues rose 10.9% to $26.5 billion but again missing the consensus estimate. Home Depot said it took a 16 cent charge against its quarter earnings linked to its Interline Brands division, which it acquired in 2015. Looking into 2019, Home Depot said it sees comparable sales growth of around 5%, following a fourth quarter rate of around 3.2% and a U.S. pace of 3.7%. It also sees full-year 2019 earnings to grow just 3.1% to $10.03 per share, well shy of the $10.26 Refinitiv forecast, and overall revenues to grow 3.3%, down from the 7.2% gain over the 2018 fiscal year that suggests a total of $111.77 billion. "We achieved record sales and net earnings in fiscal 2018, while making great progress on the strategic investments we laid out in December of 2017. We focused on enhancing the interconnected retail experience for our customers, providing localized and innovative product, and delivering best in class productivity," said CEO Craig Menear. "Our view on the health of the economy and the consumer, as well as the momentum of our strategic investments, supports our belief that we can deliver comparable sales growth of 5.0 percent in fiscal 2019. I would like to thank our associates for their solid execution and exceptional work in service to our customers." Home Depot shares were down 1.6% in trading Tuesday to $187.02. Watch TheStreet's Behind the Label video series | More videos on our Youtube Channel