Strong sales during the holiday season managed to push Home Depot's earnings beyond analysts' expectations for its latest quarter. The company released its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, citing above-average appliance sales and a strong holiday season for its better-than-expected results.

Home Depot CEO Craig Minear mentioned during the company's earnings call that its prior investments were also a part of the reason for its performance in the last quarter. He stated that the retailers focus on integrating its traditional brick-and-mortar stores with its online the business has paid off. The strategy itself is part of the company's wider three-year $11 billion investment program aimed to enhance its business.

The US retailer has invested quite a lot of money and effort in enhancing the digital shopping experience of its customers through a number of projects. This included implemented better search functionality on its website and integrating a digital rating system for its different products available online. Home Depot also recently launched its own mobile app, which had one of the largest single-day app download rates in December.

During its earnings call, Minear explained that part of their success over the last quarter was due to continued efforts to combine their online and offline retail strategies. He stated that over 50 percent of their online customers actually pick up their orders in physical stores, which meant that equal focus had to be made in both areas.

For its fiscal fourth-quarter ending on February 2, Home Depot reported total earnings of $2.28 per share, slightly above Wall Street's $2.10 per share estimates. Total revenues for the quarter reached $25.78 billion, slightly below analysts' estimates of $25.76 billion. Net income for the quarter increased by 5.8 percent to $2.48 billion for the quarter.

The company's same-store sales for the quarter managed to grow by a respectable 5.2 percent, slightly above the 4.8 percent growth that was expected. Sales for the quarter were mainly boosted during the holiday season as the company saw increased sales in its holiday-related items.

Following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings, Home Depot's share prices rose by more than 1 percent on Tuesday. The company's shares have so far increased by 25 percent over the last 12 months, bringing its market valuation to $261.5 billion.

On top of its better-than-expected earnings, the company slightly upgraded its forecasts. The company upgraded its total sales growth forecast and its same-store sales growth forecast from 3.5 percent to 4 percent. The company also increased its dividend targets by around 10 percent.