Lowe's Earnings Balloon 9% on New Store Sales
Sales for the quarter increased 5.8% to $14.2 billion. Comparable store sales for the second quarter declined 2.6%.
Analysts has forecast EPS of $0.61 on revenue of $14.13 billion.
For the first six months of 2007, net earnings declined 1.0% to $1.76 billion, earnings per share increased 1.8% to $1.15.
Sales for the six month period increased 4.1% to $26.3 billion. Comparable store sales for the period declined 4.4%.
Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman and CEO, said solid gross margin gains drove earnings that exceeded Lowe's guidance.
"Macro economic factors, including the many aspects of the housing market, continue to result in regionally disparate performance," Niblock said. "Markets in California and Florida, generally considered most pressured by housing, continue to perform significantly worse than average; markets in the Northeast, while still producing negative comparable store sales, are showing encouraging signs of improvement; and the many areas of the country where housing did not accelerate at an unsustainable rate over the past several years delivered positive comparable store sales."
During the quarter, Lowe's opened 26 new stores including two relocations. As of August 3, Lowe's operated 1,424 stores in 49 states representing 161.6 million square feet of retail selling space, an 11.1 % increase over last year.
Lowe's expects to open 40 new stores in the third quarter, and total sales are expected to grow at least 7% over a year ago.