Shares of Lowe’s Cos. were rising Tuesday after the home-improvement retailer’s big quarterly profit beat was overshadowed by a downbeat full-year outlook. While profit increased amid improved gross margin, sales fell from a year ago due to “a slowdown in [do-it-yourself] demand and unfavorable January winter weather,” the company said in a release.
After declining in premarket trading, the stock
LOW,
+2.31%
is up 2.8%. Net earnings for the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Feb. 2, rose to $1 billion, or $1.77 a share, compared with $957 million, or $1.58 a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as costs related to a Canadian retail-business transaction, adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.28, while analysts surveyed by FactSet were modeling $1.68. That marked the biggest EPS beat on a percentage basis in at least five years, according to available FactSet data. Revenue fell 17% — to $18.6 billion from $22.4 billion — but was still above the FactSet consensus of $18.5 billion. Lowe’s noted that figures from the year-earlier quarter included about $1.4 billion from an extra week and $958 million from its Canadian retail business. Gross margin improved to 32.4% from 32.3%. Comparable sales, or sales from stores open at least one year, fell 6.2%, but that beat the FactSet consensus for a 7% decline. Speaking during a conference call on Tuesday morning, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said that a number of factors are cloudin …
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After declining in premarket trading, the stock
LOW,
+2.31%
is up 2.8%. Net earnings for the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Feb. 2, rose to $1 billion, or $1.77 a share, compared with $957 million, or $1.58 a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as costs related to a Canadian retail-business transaction, adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.28, while analysts surveyed by FactSet were modeling $1.68. That marked the biggest EPS beat on a percentage basis in at least five years, according to available FactSet data. Revenue fell 17% — to $18.6 billion from $22.4 billion — but was still above the FactSet consensus of $18.5 billion. Lowe’s noted that figures from the year-earlier quarter included about $1.4 billion from an extra week and $958 million from its Canadian retail business. Gross margin improved to 32.4% from 32.3%. Comparable sales, or sales from stores open at least one year, fell 6.2%, but that beat the FactSet consensus for a 7% decline. Speaking during a conference call on Tuesday morning, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said that a number of factors are cloudin …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]