A shopping cart in front of a Lowe's store in Pacoima, California, on November 21, 2023.
Justin Sullivan | fake images
Lowe's led Wall Street's quarterly earnings and income expectations on Tuesday, even as DIY customers bought fewer big-ticket items.
The home improvement retailer's results echoed those of House deposit last week. Home Depot missed revenue expectations, which it blamed on a tougher housing market and a delayed start to spring.
Lowe's is sticking to its full-year forecast. It said it expects total sales of between $84 billion and $85 billion, which would be down from $86.38 billion in fiscal 2023. It anticipates comparable sales to decline between 2% and 3%. compared to the prior year, and expects earnings per share of approximately $12 to $12.30.
Here's what the company reported for the fiscal first quarter compared to what Wall Street expected, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $3.06 vs. $2.94 expected
- Revenue: $21.36 billion vs. $21.12 billion expected
In the three months ended May 3, Lowe's net income fell to $1.76 billion, or $3.06 per share, compared with $2.26 billion, or $3.77 per share, a year before.
Sales fell from $22.35 billion in the same period a year earlier. It was the fifth consecutive quarter in which Lowe's posted a year-over-year sales decline.
Compared to Home Depot, Lowe's gets less business from painters, contractors and other home professionals who tend to offer steadier business even as DIY customers leave. About half of Home Depot's sales come from professionals, compared to about 20% to 25% at Lowe's.
However, Lowe's has been trying to win business with more of those professionals. In the company's news release, CEO Marvin Ellison said gains with professionals and growth in online sales helped partially offset a decline in DIY spending.
Lowe's is outperforming last year's quarter when the company cut its full-year outlook and posted a year-over-year sales decline. At the time, Ellison warned investors that the retailer expected “a pullback in consumer discretionary spending in the near term.”
In each of the three quarters since then, Lowe's sales have also declined from the same periods a year ago.
Lowe's shares closed Monday at $229.17, bringing the company's market value to $131.13 billion. As of Monday's close, the company's shares had risen nearly 3% this year, lagging the S&P 500's gains of 11%.
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