Tag: LOW

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reported on Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings climbed 32% thanks to favorable comparables, improving demand for home improvement  products in the backdrop of resurging  housing sector and refurbishments that ensued after the devastating super storm Sandy.

Continue reading Home Depot Q4 Results Edge Past Street’s Estimate (HD)

Shares of Lowe’s Companies Inc, (NYSE: LOW) rallied on Monday following the announcement of fiscal third-quarter results which saw profits climbing 76% thanks to better-than-expected revenue growth and cost cutting measures while fewer onetime charges also boosted the bottom line.

For the current quarter, world’s second largest home improvement chain in terms revenue is now expecting same-store-sales to grow by 1% compared to its earlier guidance of 0.5%.

In order to compete with more ferocity against its larger rival Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD), Lowe’s has been reshaping its operations.

Lowe’s, which currently operates 1,750 stores across the United States, Canada and Mexico, is now focusing on ‘everyday-low-price strategy’ to pull in more customers to its stores; besides, it’s also evaluating its existing product line with vendors in order to improve its merchandising and simultaneously lower the unit costs.  The ultimate objective for Lowe’s is to make online selling a flawless part of shopping experience.

Nevertheless, back in August the company’s executives did mention of miscalculating the time required by its vendor to respond to changing shopping habits.

Commenting over the results, Lowe’s Chief Executive, Robert Niblock said that Lowe’s was “keenly focused” in strengthening its core business. Niblock described third quarter results as “solid” and added that company’s performance with regard to implementing strategies was “improving”.

For the fiscal third quarter which ended November 2, the Company reported net profit of $396 million or 35 cents a share, up from $225 million or 18 cents a share, in the corresponding period of last year. For the recently concluded quarter, the company took onetime charge of 5 cents a share which was associated to one discontinued project, impairment of long-lived asset and alteration in the discount rate applied to self-insurance claims. In the year earlier quarter the Company took a onetime charge of 18 cents a share linked to store closures, discontinued projects and impairment charges against long-lived assets.

Net sales for the period soared 1.9% to $12.07 billion. Same-store-sales climbed 1.8%, for the third quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecasted earnings of 35 cents on revenue of $11.92 billion.

In spite of 1.5% increase in input costs, gross margin showed improvement at 34.32 %, up from 34.06%, in the year earlier quarter.