In its third quarter earnings report The Home Depot announced a 23.2 percent increase in sales over the third quarter of 2019. The Cobb-headquartered retail giant reported $33.5 billion in sales for the third quarter, an increase of $6.3 billion over last year’s third quarter report.

The company also reported third quarter net earnings of $3.4 billion for this fiscal year, or $3.18 per diluted share. Last year’s net third quarter earnings were $2.8 billion, or $2.53 per diluted share.

“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 company in the press release announcing the earning report.

“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. I am proud of the resilience and strength our associates have continued to demonstrate, and I would like to thank them and our supplier partners,” said Menear.

The company also announced that a temporary bonus plan implemented after the COVID-19 outbreak began will be turned into a permanent program.

The company wrote in the news release:

The Company is now transitioning from these temporary programs to invest in permanent compensation enhancements for frontline, hourly associates. This will result in approximately $1 billion of incremental compensation on an annualized basis.

The company conference call where 3rd quarter earnings were announced is available for replay at ir.homedepot.com/events-and-presentations.

About The Home Depot

In their news release the company described their operations as follows:

At the end of the third quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,295 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs more than 400,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.