Lowe's Reports Increasing Earnings, Sales in Q2

Mooresville, NC, Aug. 16, 2010--Lowe's, the world's second largest home improvement retailer, reported net earnings of $832 million for the quarter ended July 30, a 9.6% increase from the same period a year ago. Earnings per share increased 13.7% to $0.58 from $0.51 in the second quarter of 2009.

For the six months ended July 30, net earnings increased 7.0% to $1.32 billion while diluted earnings per share increased 9.5% to $0.92.

Sales for the quarter increased 3.7% to $14.4 billion, up from $13.8 billion in the second quarter of 2009. For the six months, sales increased 4.2% to $26.7 billion. Comparable store sales for the second quarter increased 1.6% and for the first half of 2010 increased 2.0%.

During the quarter, Lowe's opened four stores and closed one. As of July 30, Lowe's operated 1,724 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico representing 194.6 million square feet of retail selling space, a 2.0% increase over last year.

Foor the third quarter, Lowe's expects total sales to increase 3% to 5%