Home Depot’s Q3 Sales & Profit Surge; Raises Worker Compensation

It was another big company for the retailer, powered by consumers' doing more home improvement projects amid the pandemic.

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Fresh off announcing Monday that it will buy industrial products distributor HD Supply in an $8 billion deal, The Home Depot reported its 2020 third quarter financial results on Wednesday, and it was a very good quarter for the world’s largest home improvement retailer.

The Atlanta, GA-based company reported Q3 total sales of $33.5 billion, up 23.2 percent year-over-year — nearly identical to the 23.4 percent surge the company saw in Q2. Net profit in Q3 was $3.4 billion, up from $2.8 billion a year earlier.

The company has seen a windfall in sales and volume over the past two quarters amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to consumers flocking to home improvement stores to buy supplies for do-it-your projects, along with a surge in contracted projects.

 "The third quarter was another exceptional quarter for The Home Depot as we saw the continuation of outsized demand for home improvement projects, which has led to sales growth of more than $15 billion through the first nine months of the year," said Craig Menear, chairman and CEO of The Home Depot. "Our ability to effectively adapt to this high-demand environment is a testament to both the investments we have made in the business as well as our associates' focus on customers. We continue to lean into these investments because we believe they are critical in enabling market share growth in any economic environment.”

The retailer noted how earlier in the pandemic it expanded paid time off for all hourly associates for them to use at their discretion, along with implementing a temporary weekly bonus program. Those measures were temporary when enacted, but the company said Tuesday that it is now transitioning from those programs to invest in permanent compensation enhancements for its frontline, hourly workers. It will result in approximately $1 billion of incremental compensation on an annualized basis.

The Home Depot ended Q3 operating 2,295 retail stores across North America and more than 400,000 employees.

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