Lowe's Profits, Sales Sink
The shaky U.S. economy cut into home improvement retailer
Lowe's
(LOW) - Get Report
first-quarter sales and profit, both of which slipped from a year ago.
The Mooresville, N.C.-based retailer reported net earnings of $607 million, or 41 cents a diluted share, vs. $739 million, or 48 cents a diluted share, in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a profit of 40 cents a share.
Sales slipped 1.3% to $12 billion from the year-ago quarter and comparable store sales fell 8.4%. Analysts had expected sales of $12.36 billion.
Chairman and CEO Robert Niblock blamed a "challenging sales environment" that has lingered for 18 months for the retailer's woes.
"The generally poor economic outlook, including well-known housing pressures, rising food and fuel prices and a more negative employment picture eroded consumer confidence and impacted discretionary purchases for the home," he said in a company statement.
Lowe's also offered second-quarter and full-year outlooks on the light side of Wall Street's expectations. It sees a profit of between 54 cents and 59 cents a diluted share, vs. analysts' forecast of 56 cents a share.
For the full year, the company sees a profit of between $1.45 and $1.55 a diluted share, compared to analysts' expectation of $1.54 a share.
Lowe's main rival
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Report
is expected to report earnings Tuesday morning. But news for other retailers actually had been looking up last week.
Wal-Mart
(WMT) - Get Report
beat expectations and
Macy's
(M) - Get Report
posted in-line results.
Target
(TGT) - Get Report
is set to report results Tuesday and
BJ's Wholesale Club
(BJ) - Get Report
is expected to post earnings on Wednesday.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.









