Lowe's Sales Rose 2.6% in Q4, Earnings Positive

Mooresville, NC, February 26, 2020-Lowe's Companies reported sales for Q4 2019 rose 2.6%, compared to Q4 2018, and comparable sales increased 2.5%. Comparable sales for the U.S. home improvement business increased 2.6% for Q4.

The company reported net earnings of $509 million in Q4 2019, which included pre-tax operating costs and charges of $185 million, compared to a net loss of $824 million in Q4 2018.  Excluding the impact of these charges, adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 17.5% in Q4 2018.

For FY 2019, sales rose 1.2%, and earnings rose by 85%. 

As of January 31, 2020, Lowe's operated 1,977 home improvement and hardware stores in the United States and Canada representing 208.2 million square feet of retail selling space.

"In the fourth quarter, we delivered profitability that exceeded our expectations given strong expense management, improving gross margin and enhanced process execution.  Our sales growth was driven almost entirely by our U.S. brick and mortar stores, supported by our investments in technology, store environment and the Pro business. We have a detailed road map in place to modernize our e-commerce platform and accelerate Lowes.com sales, which combined with the sales productivity improvement in our physical stores, underscores our opportunity to unlock additional growth," commented Marvin R. Ellison, Lowe's president and CEO.