Craig Menear -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Isabel, and good morning, everyone. Fiscal 2018 was another record year for our business, as we achieved the highest sales and net earnings in company history. Fiscal 2018 sales grew $7.3 billion to $108.2 billion, an increase of 7.2% from fiscal 2017, while diluted earnings per share grew 33.5% to $9.73.
And although fiscal 2018 was a record year for our business, our fourth quarter comp sales were slightly below our expectations, as the quarter experienced some unfavorable weather. Sales for the fourth quarter were $26.5 billion, up 10.9% from last year. Comp sales were up 3.2% from last year and our U.S. comps were positive 3.7%. Diluted earnings per share were $2.09 in the fourth quarter. Internationally, Mexico posted another quarter of positive comps in local currency, while Canada was essentially flat.
As we mentioned on last quarter's call, our fourth quarter faced tough comparisons given the prior year's approximately $400 million in hurricane-related sales that would not repeat and we planned for this in our outlook. But as Carol will detail, what we did not plan for was the extent of the unfavorable weather we experienced in all regions throughout the quarter. It was cold, it was snowy, and perhaps worst of all, it was wet. Wet weather delays projects and this was evidenced in our sales performance in the quarter.
In fact, as Carol will detail, ex-weather, our business performed in line with our expectations. As Ted will discuss, both ticket and transactions grew in the quarter and we saw growth in both pro and DIY categories. Pro sales once again outpaced DIY sales in the quarter and the work that we're doing to enhance the service capabilities for our pros continues to resonate.
I am very proud of our associates for continuing to do what they do best: serving our customers. Our merchants, store teams, supplier partners, and supply chain teams did an outstanding job of delivering value and service to our customers throughout the quarter, both in stores and online. In fact, several key accomplishments took place during the quarter. We set record performances on Black Friday and during Cyber Week. Our holiday décor offering and gift center events set new all-time highs and during the quarter, we reached a new watermark of approximately 2 billion annual visits on homedepot.com, with many of these visitors indicating that their next stop is a Home Depot store.
In fiscal 2018, we made progress with regard to the One Home Depot investment plan but we are still in the early days of our journey. Our strategic effort to drive an enhanced, interconnected customer experience through investments in both the physical and digital worlds are yielding solid returns. We also continue to focus on productivity as a virtuous cycle by leveraging technology and improving processes throughout the value chain of our business. Fiscal 2018 provided a lot of great learnings and momentum that we will continue to build on in 2019.
I'm particularly excited about the investments we're making for our pros. In the quarter, we announced the consolidated go-to-market approach for our pro customers under the banner "Home Depot Pro" and we continue to invest in a more personalized offering for our pro customers with a new B2B website experience. We have now onboarded over 100,000 pro customers and the reception has been positive. Our plan is for continuous enhancements, with new features and capabilities. For example, in response to customer feedback, we are adding the ability for businesses to enhance account management and ordering capabilities with improved tools. Our intent is to roll out this new pro online experience to over 1 million pros in 2019.
Beyond B2B personalization, we continue to make great strides in driving our digital experience. This year, we invested in our website and mobile applications, improving search capabilities, site functionality, and product content. This ongoing investment in our digital properties has increased traffic and conversion. Versus prior year on a like-for-like basis, online sales grew 22.7% in the fourth quarter and 24.1% in fiscal 2018, now representing 7.9% of our total sales.
While we are seeing significant growth in our online sales, these online shoppers see the relevance of our stores, as approximately 50% of our online U.S. orders are picked up in our stores, a testament to the power of our interconnected retail strategy. We continue to roll out automated lockers in our stores to make picking up an online order easier and more convenient. To date, approximately 1,000 stores have lockers, with more to come in 2019. Customer response to the lockers has been very positive, as almost 94% of customers rated their locker pickup experience a 5 out of 5 stars.
We fundamentally believe that when a customer comes to one of our stores, it has to be a great experience. With our investment program, approximately 40% of our U.S. stores now have a new look and feel and customer response has been very positive. The store investments are not just about the customer response, as we are also seeing increased associate engagement and higher productivity.
Another key component of a best-in-class interconnected shopping experience centers on enhanced delivery and fulfillment options. Fiscal 2018 was the year of the pilot, as we kicked off our $1.2 billion investment journey to create the fastest, most efficient delivery network for home improvement goods. We are now live with a number of these pilot facilities. We look to fiscal 2019 as a year to take what we have learned in pilot and begin the rollout that we expect to complete by 2022.
As a demonstration of the confidence in the business going forward, today our board announced a 32% increase in our quarterly dividend to $1.36 per share. The board also authorized a new share repurchase program with $15 billion, replacing our existing authorization. We remain committed to maintaining disciplined capital allocation to create value for our shareholders.
Turning to 2019 and beyond, I'm excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us. Carol will take you through the details but we expect 2019 to be another year of growth, with sales growth of approximately 3.3%, comp sales of 5%, and diluted earnings per share of approximately $10.03. Our strong performance in fiscal 2018 also positions us well with respect to our 2020 financial targets and, today, we are reaffirming those targets.
It's an exciting time to be a part of the Home Depot and we look forward to the work ahead as we continue our journey to create the One Home Depot experience. There's a great deal of change being introduced throughout the business but as they always do, our associates are rising to the occasion, meeting new challenges head-on without losing the passion to serve our customers that has made the Home Depot what it is today.
I want to close by thanking our associates for their hard work and dedication to our customers in the fourth quarter and throughout the year. For the second half of the year, 100% of our stores will receive success sharing, our bonus program for our hourly associates. We look forward to continuing our momentum in 2019.
Home Depot, Inc. (HD) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript -- The Motley Fool
