Lowe's beats on earnings and hikes guidance, but still expects sales to fall this year

Lowe's beat Wall Street's quarterly earnings expectations on Tuesday, as outdoor do-it-yourself projects, the home professional business and stronger online shopping fueled sales.

Yet even with the better-than-expected results, the home improvement retailer is projecting a year-over-year sales decline. The company updated its full-year guidance on Tuesday, and now expects total sales of between $83 billion to $83.5 billion, higher than its previous forecast for $82.7 billion to $83.2 billion. It said it expects comparable sales to decline 3% to 3.5%, slightly better than the 3.5% to 4% drop that it had previously anticipated.

Lowe's is lapping a year-ago period when the company lowered its outlook and sales tumbled nearly 13% year over year. It also cut its full-year forecast in August, as it predicted weak home improvement demand in the back half of the year because of high interest rates.

Here's what the company reported for the three-month period that ended Nov. 1 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $2.89 adjusted vs. $2.82 expected
• Revenue: $20.17 billion vs. $19.95 billion expected

In the fiscal third quarter, Lowe's net income fell to $1.7 billion, or $2.99 per share, compared with $1.77 billion, or $3.06 per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped from $20.47 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Lowe's competitor, Home Depot, reported last week that customers are still deferring bigger projects and pricier purchases, even after two interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Home Depot beat Wall Street's sales and earning expectations, yet posted its eighth quarter in a row of declining comparable sales. It did see some improving sales trends, however, due to hurricane-related demand, warm-weather home projects and the acquisition of SRS Distribution, a company that sells supplies to landscaping, pool and roofing professionals.

As of Monday's close, shares of Lowe's have risen about 22% this year. That's less than the approximately 24% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period. The company's stock closed on Monday at $271.77, bringing the market value of Lowe's to $154.17 billion.

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