Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) on Tuesday reported lower fiscal second-quarter results, although earnings topped Wall Street’s expectations and the home improvement retailer maintained its full-year outlook.
Per-share earnings came in at $4.56 for the three months through Aug. 4, down from $4.67 the year before, but ahead of the Capital IQ-polled consensus of $4.48. Sales dropped to $24.96 billion from $27.48 billion, just shy of the Street’s view for $24.98 billion. The stock gained 2.9% in premarket trading.
Sales included a roughly $335 million headwind related to a timing shift in the retailer’s fiscal calendar, as it cycled over a 53-week year, it said. Same-store sales declined 1.6%, compared with a 2.6% decrease modeled by analysts, as a robust spring recovery and sales traction in the company’s pro and online businesses helped partially offset lumber deflation and lower do-it-yourself discretionary demand.
Selling, general and administrative expenses narrowed to $4.09 billion from $4.46 billion year-over-year.
“Our investments in our total home strategy continued to drive growth across pro and online this quarter,” Chief Executive Marvin Ellison said in a statement. “Our ability to reduce expenses while improving customer service is the result of excellent execution by our team.”
The company continues to expect adjusted EPS to come in between $13.20 and $13.60 for fiscal 2023 and sales to be in a range of about $87 billion to $89 billion. The Street is looking for EPS of $13.38 on revenue of $88.06 billion.
Lowe’s also reiterated its guidance for comparable sales to fall by 2% to 4% for the fiscal year, while analysts are currently estimating a 3.5% decline. The retailer is also offering $100 million in discretionary and profit-sharing bonuses to its front-line workers this quarter, Ellison said. “We remain confident in the mid- to long-term outlook for the home improvement industry,” the CEO added.