Lowe's Beats All Quarterly Estimates But Negative Sales Outlook Draws Focus

Lowe's Companies Inc. reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday that topped analysts' estimates for earnings and revenue.

The home improvement retailer said that it earned $2.31 per share in the fiscal third quarter that ended October 29th. On an adjusted basis, it earned $3.23 per share in the recent quarter.

Lowe's generated $23.94 billion of revenue in Q3 that represents an annualised growth of 2.2% and topped Wall Street estimates.

Comparable sales in the United States grew by 0.3% in the recent quarter, as per the earnings report published on Wednesday.

The company saw a 10.2% decline in its comparable sales for the Pro customers in the third quarter.

For the full year, Lowe's now forecasts its comparable sales to remain flat compared to a prior estimate of a 1% to 2% growth.

It also expects comparable sales for Pro customers to decrease by mid-single digits in fiscal 2023 versus a previous forecast of a high-single-digit decline.

Lowe's shares were reported about 4% down in premarket trading on Wednesday.

Including the price action, the stock is now exchanging hands at $191.89 per share. In comparison, it had started the year 2023 at a per-share price of $214.44.

Lowe's performed slightly downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of close to 15%.