Lowe's Cos., the nation's second biggest home improvement store chain, said Friday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 11.5 percent due to a slowing home improvement market amid a continued slump in the housing sector.
The Mooresville, N.C.-based retailer said it earned $613 million, or 40 cents a share, for the three months ended Feb. 2, down from $693 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue fell to $10.4 billion from $10.8 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least one year, a key measure of industry performance, fell 5.3 percent.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been looking for net income of 37 cents a share on revenue of $10.36 billion. The estimate for earnings typically excludes one-time items.
On Tuesday, rival Home Depot Inc., the nation's largest home improvement store chain, said its fourth-quarter income dropped 28 percent. Its same-store sales dropped 6.6 percent.
"Sales continued to be pressured by a slowing housing market, tough comparisons to last year's hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts and significant deflation in lumber and plywood prices," Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman and chief executive said in a statement accompanying the results.
I don't see how this news can bolster any argument housing is bottoming. The short version is we still have a ways to go here.
