“Finally, we are affirming our outlook of return on invested capital above 36% for the year.”

In context

“argin pressure will shift into Q2 as we continue to turn through our higher cost inventory layers. As a result, we now expect to see our gross margin for the first half to be up slightly compared with our gross margin in the first half of 2021. We also continue to expect operating margin in the range of 12.8% to 13% for the full year, driven by a slightly higher gross margin rate and continued execution of our PPI initiatives. We are also confirming our outlook for diluted earnings per share in a range of $13.10 to $13.60. In 2022, we still expect capital expenditures of approximately $2 billion, and we remain committed to our disciplined capital allocation strategy with approximately $12 billion in share repurchases this year while also supporting our 35% target dividend payout ratio. Finally, we are affirming our outlook of return on invested capital above 36% for the year. Now I'd like to close by reviewing one of our value creation drivers at Lowe's, our shareholder-focused capital allocation strategy. In Q1, the company generated $2.6 billion in free cash flow. And through a combination of both dividends and share repurchases, we returned $4.7 billion to our shareholders. During the quarter, we repurchased 19.2 million shares for $4.1 billion, and we paid $537 million in dividends at $0.80 per share. Capital expenditures totaled $343 million in the quarter, as we continue to invest in the business to drive growth and enhance returns. We ended the quarter with $3.4 billion of cash and cash equivalents, which includes proceeds from our $5 billion notes offering in March. This larger-than-planned bond issuance enabled us to slightly accelerate our shar”