Lowe’s Companies (LOW) Post-Earnings Analysis
In their latest quarterly earnings report, Lowe’s fell short of market expectations and lowered their outlook on guidance, making it the second home improvement retailer to slash forecasts. Their earnings were released this morning, exactly one week after Home Depot’s earnings last week, which also pointed to a slow down in home improvement spending over the next 12 months. Both retailers showed concerns over macroeconomic factors, as well as a significant slowdown in “do-it-yourself” project spending. Big ticket item spending has also wained as consumers hit the break on financing any products, and with interest rates still elevated, that is expected to continue placing pressure on the industry.
Year over year sales for the company fell 5.5%, bringing down their margins and impacting their net income. This is the sixth quarter in a row where Low falls short compared to same period from previous year, which explains why their stock has stayed flat over the past 12 months. These earnings didn’t give much optimism for the company or the home improvement industry, so we don’t expect the stock to do much for its investors for a while.