Home Depot 2006 Annual Report Download - page 11

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO THE
PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
Certain statements regarding our future performance made in this report are forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements may relate to such matters as Net Sales growth, comparable
store sales, impact of cannibalization, state of the residential construction and housing markets,
commodity price inflation and deflation, implementation of store initiatives, protection of intellectual
property rights, Net Earnings performance, including Depreciation and Amortization expense, earnings
per share, stock-based compensation expense, store openings and closures, capital allocation and
expenditures, the effect of adopting certain accounting standards, return on invested capital,
management of our purchasing or customer credit policies, strategic direction, including whether or not
a sale or initial public offering of HD Supply will occur or, if a transaction is undertaken, its terms or
timing, and the demand for our products and services.
These statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions,
expectations and projections about future events. While we believe that our assumptions, expectations
and projections are reasonable in view of the currently available information, you are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future
performance. They are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties – many of which are beyond our
control – as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions, that could cause actual results to differ
materially from our expectations and projections. Some of the material risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections are described in
Item 1A. ‘‘Risk Factors.’’ You should read that information in conjunction with ‘‘Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations’’ in Item 7 of this report and
our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes in Item 8 of this report. We note such
information for investors as permitted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There
also may be other factors that we cannot anticipate or that are not described in this report, generally
because we do not perceive them to be material, that could cause results to differ materially from our
expectations.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to
update these forward-looking statements. You are advised, however, to review any further disclosures
we make on related subjects in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(‘‘SEC’’).
PART I
Item 1. Business.
Introduction
The Home Depot, Inc. is the world’s largest home improvement retailer and the second largest retailer
in the United States (‘‘U.S.’’), based on Net Sales for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2007 (‘‘fiscal
2006’’). As of the end of fiscal 2006, we were operating 2,147 stores, most of which are The Home
Depot stores.
The Home Depot stores sell a wide assortment of building materials, home improvement and lawn and
garden products and provide a number of services. The Home Depot stores average approximately
105,000 square feet of enclosed space, with approximately 23,000 additional square feet of outside
garden area. As of the end of fiscal 2006, we had 2,100 The Home Depot stores located throughout the
U.S. (including the territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), Canada, China and Mexico. In
addition, at the end of fiscal 2006, the Company operated 34 EXPO Design Center stores, 11 The
Home Depot Landscape Supply stores and two The Home Depot Floor stores.
1