A shopping cart sits in front of a Lowe’s store in Pacoima, California on November 21, 2023.
Justin Sullivan | Good pictures
Lowe’s tops Wall Street’s quarterly earnings Earnings expectations on Tuesday were subdued, even as consumers bought goods at lower prices.
The home improvement retailer’s results echoed results from Home Depot last week. Home Depot missed earnings expectations, citing a tough housing market and a late start to spring.
Lowe’s stuck with its full-year forecast. It expects total sales to fall to between $84 billion and $85 billion in fiscal 2023, from $86.38 billion. It expects comparable sales to decline 2% to 3% compared to the prior year, and earnings per share. Approximately $12 to $12.30.
Here’s what the company reported for the fiscal first quarter, compared to what Wall Street expected, based on LSEG’s survey of analysts:
- Earnings per share: $3.06 vs. $2.94 expected
- Revenue: $21.36 billion versus $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 earlier.
Sales were down from $22.35 billion a year earlier. It marked the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year sales declines for Lowe’s.
Compared to Home Depot, Lowe’s gets less of its business from painters, contractors and other home professionals. About half of Home Depot’s sales come from pros, compared to 20% to 25% at Lowe’s.
Nevertheless, Lowe’s is trying to win business from those advantages. In the company’s news release, CEO Marvin Ellison said gains along with profit and online sales growth helped partially offset the decline in operating expenses.
Lowe’s is coming off a year-ago quarter, when the company lowered its full-year outlook and posted a year-over-year sales decline. At the time, Ellison warned investors that the retailer “expects a rebound in discretionary consumer spending in the near term.”
In each of the three quarters since then, Lowe’s sales have declined from the previous year.
Lowe’s stock closed at $229.17 on Monday, bringing the company’s market value to $131.13 billion. As of Monday’s close, the company’s stock had risen nearly 3% this year, trailing the S&P 500’s 11% gains.
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