Lowe’s earnings beat estimates, as home professionals help drive growth

Lowe’s outpaced earnings estimates on Wednesday, as projects by home professionals helped drive sales in the second quarter.

Shares rose less than 1% in premarket trading.

Here’s what the company reported for the fiscal second quarter ended July 30 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

• Earnings per share: $4.25 vs. $4.01 expected
• Revenue: $27.57 billion vs. $26.85 billion expected

Lowe’s profits rose to $3.02 billion, or $4.25 per share, from $2.83 billion, or $3.74 per share, a year earlier. The results outpaced the $4.01 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Net sales climbed to $27.57 billion from $27.30 billion last year, and were higher than analysts’ expectations of $26.85 billion.

The home improvement retailer has reported quarter after quarter of eye-popping growth. However, that has teed up almost inevitable disappointment for investors as consumers reemerge into the world and can choose to spend money in other ways, from booking vacations to planning parties.

Lowe’s same-store sales, a key retail metric, dropped by 1.6% in the quarter. During the same year-ago period, the home improvement retailer put up big numbers, including 35.1% growth of same-store sales and a nearly 69% surge in quarterly profits.

Lowe’s rival, Home Depot, fell short of expectations for same-store sales in the fiscal second quarter, as some customers’ appetite for do-it-yourself projects faded. The company also declined to provide an outlook for the year, citing uncertainty about factors from supply chain headaches to the delta variant’s influence on consumer spending. Its shares closed down 4.27% to $320.75 on Tuesday.

Lowe’s shares closed down 5.8% to $182.26 on Tuesday after Home Depot’s earnings report. They’re up about 14% so far this year.

Correction: A earlier headline misstated same-store sales growth. Same-store sales fell 1.6% in the quarter.