NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) May 18, 2006--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that there would be no immediate impact on its 'AA' corporate credit rating and stable outlook for Home Depot Inc. (AA/Stable/A-1+) from the company's latest $2 billion share repurchase authorization. Home Depot's board of directors has approved the program, which is in addition to $1.7 billion remaining under a previous authorization at April 30, 2006. In conjunction with this increase, the board also authorized the immediate repurchase of $2 billion of shares through an accelerated program. Although Home Depot has repurchased roughly $3.6 billion of shares and made acquisitions of roughly $5.8 billion since the beginning of fiscal 2005, ratings have adequate room to absorb this.
