Lowe's Lumbers as Housing Slows

Lowe's (LOW Quote) echoed its chief competitor, Home Depot (HD Quote), on Monday, forecasting a sales slowdown in the back half of the year as the U.S. housing boom winds down.

But unlike Home Depot, which saw its shares rise last week after its profit report narrowly exceeded forecasts, Lowe's shares lost ground after the No. 2 U.S. home-improvement chain reported a weaker-than-expected 11% gain in second-quarter earnings and cut its guidance for the full year.

For the quarter ended Aug. 4, Lowe's earned $935 million, or 60 cents a share, up from the year-ago $839 million, or 52 cents a share. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 61 cents a share, according to Thomson First Call. ...