Lowe's Companies
Q4 2022 Earnings Call
Mar 01, 2023, 9:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Lowe's Companies fourth quarter 2022 earnings conference call. My name is Rob, and I'll be your operator for today's call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kate Pearlman, vice president of investor relations and treasurer.
Kate Pearlman -- Vice President, Investor Relations
Thank you, and good morning. Here with me today are Marvin Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer; Bill Boltz, our executive vice president, merchandising; Joe McFarland, our executive vice president of stores; and Brandon Sink, our executive vice president and chief financial officer. I would like to remind you that our notice regarding forward-looking statements is included in our press release this morning, which can be found on Lowe's Investor Relations website. During this call, we will be making comments that are forward-looking, including our expectations for fiscal 2023.
Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied as a result of various risks, uncertainties and important factors, including those discussed in the risk factors, MD&A and other sections of our annual report on Form 10-K and our other SEC filings. Additionally, we'll be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these items to U.S. GAAP can be found in the quarterly earnings section of our Investor Relations website.
Now, I'll turn the call over to Marvin.
Marvin Ellison -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone. In the fourth quarter, our total company comparable sales declined 1.5%, while U.S. comps decreased 0.7%. For the quarter, commodity deflation impacted U.S.
comps by 75 basis points. Our investments in the Pro customers continue to pay dividends for the company reflected by our continued strong Pro sales in the fourth quarter. In fact, this is the 11th consecutive quarter that we've driven double-digit Pro growth in the US, despite stronger-than-expected commodity deflation. And while there was continued solid DIY demand in core home improvement categories, as expected, we saw a DIY pullback on holiday gift buying.
Despite a modest decrease in sales, we once again improved our adjusted operating margin by maintaining our disciplined focus on productivity. During the quarter, adjusted operating margin expanded approximately 88 basis points leading to adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.28, a 28% increase compared to last year. These results cap off solid financial performance for fiscal 2022 with sales of $97.1 billion, adjusted operating margin of 13%, and adjusted earnings per share of $13.81, up 15% over the prior year. With these results, we're awarding $220 million in discretionary and profit-sharing bonuses to our associates, which includes an incremental $70 million to our assistant store managers and supply chain supervisors who hold two of the most critical frontline leadership roles in the company.