Home Depot 2011 Annual Report Download - page 7

1
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO THE
PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
Certain statements regarding our future performance constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, the demand for our
products and services, net sales growth, comparable store sales, state of the economy, state of the residential construction,
housing and home improvement markets, state of the credit markets, including mortgages, home equity loans and consumer
credit, inventory and in-stock positions, commodity price inflation and deflation, implementation of store and supply chain
initiatives, continuation of reinvestment plans, net earnings performance, earnings per share, stock-based compensation
expense, capital allocation and expenditures, liquidity, the effect of adopting certain accounting standards, return on invested
capital, management of our purchasing or customer credit policies, the effect of accounting charges, the ability to issue debt
on terms and at rates acceptable to us, store openings and closures, expense leverage and financial outlook.
Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions, expectations and
projections about future events. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees
of future performance and are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties – many of which are beyond our control or are
currently unknown to us – as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially
from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in
Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in this report.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements
other than as required by law. 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 based on Net Sales for the fiscal year ended
January 29, 2012 ("fiscal 2011"). 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
104,000 square feet of enclosed space, with approximately 24,000 additional square feet of outside garden area. As of the end
of fiscal 2011, we had 2,252 The Home Depot stores located throughout the United States including the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico and the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, Canada, China and Mexico. When we refer to "The
Home Depot," the "Company," "we," "us" or "our" in this report, we are referring to The Home Depot, Inc. and its
consolidated subsidiaries.
The Home Depot, Inc. is a Delaware corporation that was incorporated in 1978. Our Store Support Center (corporate office)
is located at 2455 Paces Ferry Road, N.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30339. Our telephone number is [phone].
We maintain an Internet website at www homedepot.com. We make available on our website, free of charge, our Annual
Reports to shareholders, Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K,
Proxy Statements and Forms 3, 4 and 5, and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after filing such
documents with, or furnishing such documents to, the SEC.
We include our website addresses throughout this filing for reference only. The information contained on our websites is not
incorporated by reference into this report.
For information on key financial highlights, including historical revenues, profits and total assets, see the "Five-Year
Summary of Financial and Operating Results" on page F-1 of this report and Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."