Lowe's Earnings Up 59.0%, Sales Flat in Q3

Mooresville, NC, November 20, 2019-Lowe's has reported net earnings of $1.0 billion in Q3 2019, compared to net earnings of $629 million in Q3 2018, an increase of 59.0%.  

Sales for Q3 were $17.4 billion, virtually flat as compared to Q3 2018, and comparable sales for the U.S. home improvement business increased 3.0% in Q3 2019.

A $53 million non-cash pre-tax charge resulted from the company initiating a strategic review of its Canadian operations during Q3. This review led to long-lived asset impairments and a change to the Canadian leadership team in Q3. Based on the findings of the strategic review, in Q4, the company decided to take the following actions to improve future sales performance and profitability:  

* Close 34 underperforming stores in Canada;

* Undertake a process to simplify multiple Canadian store banners to drive efficiency and reduce operational complexity;

*Reorganize the corporate support structure across Canada to more efficiently serve stores; and

*Rationalize the product assortment across the simplified Canadian store banners, to present a more coordinated assortment to the customer.

For the first nine months of 2019, net sales were $56.1 billion, compared to $55.7 billion in the same period of 2018, an 0.7% increase, and net earnings rose to $3.8 billion in the first nine months of 2019 from $3.1 billion in the prior year, an increase of 22.6%.