(Reuters) - Home Depot Inc , the world's No.1 home improvement chain, reported a 36 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit and said it would buy back $18 billion of shares.
Home Depot's net income rose to $1.38 billion, or $1.05 per share, from $1.01 billion, or 73 cents per share, a year earlier as an improving job market encouraged Americans to spend more on renovations.
Net sales rose 8.3 percent to $19.16 billion in the quarter ended Feb. 1. Same-store sales rose 7.9 percent.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Siddharth Cavale; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
