Lowe's Profit Plunges in Third Quarter

Mooresville, NC, Nov. 14, 2011 -- Lowe's Cos saw its quarterly profit fall more than 40% as the home improvement retailer keeps losing marketshare to Home Depot Inc.

For the third quarter, the company earned $225 million, or $0.18 a share, compared with $404 million, or $0.29 a share last year.

Sales increased 2.3% to $11.9 billion.

Lowe's projects that fourth quarter sales will increase approximately 8%, including the 14th week. The firm already announced it would close 20 stores and scale back the opening of new stores.

"Our performance is not at the level we expect relative to the market," said Robert A. Niblock, Lowe’s chairman, president and CEO.