NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) May 19, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said that it expects Home Depot Inc. (A/Stable/A-1) to maintain strong liquidity and leverage at 2x or lower despite elevated expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first quarter ended May 3, 2020, Home Depot reported solid revenue growth with consolidated comparable sales of 6.4% and comparable sales of 7.5% in the U.S., its largest market, due to increased do-it-yourself activity while consumers are under stay-at-home orders. However, company-reported operating margin dropped to 11.6% from 13.6% for the first quarter of 2019, largely due to higher expenses to compensate store associates during the pandemic. We expect these costs to moderate somewhat throughout the year as social-distancing mandates are
