Retail

What to Expect From Lowe's Earnings

Chris Lange

Published: August 22, 2017 1:35 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 8:54 am

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is scheduled to release its most recent quarterly earnings report before the markets open on Wednesday. Rival Home Depot reported earnings just last week, and despite beating expectations, it still wasn’t enough for investors. Could we expect more of the same for Lowe’s?

The consensus estimates call for $1.61 in earnings per share (EPS) and $19.53 billion in revenue for Lowe’s fiscal second quarter. The same quarter of last year had $1.37 in EPS and $18.26 billion in revenue.

So far in 2017, Lowe’s stock has underperformed the broad markets, with the shares up only about 4% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is actually down 5%.

Although Lowe’s has lagged the market, there still are analysts that believe the stock can continue to grow, especially in the omnichannel. Credit Suisse’s Seth Sigman showed how the omnichannel is contributing to growth at the two home improvement giants. He and his team said:

[W]e believe this analysis supports what could be a structurally higher valuation given the “omni-channel” position. As the market considers where retail stocks are in the disruption scale, we continue to believe HD and LOW are well positioned in their core store channel given the unique service and everyday low price proposition, while this analysis also confirms they are participating in the broader changes in consumer shopping behavior. Specifically, they have invested in and are growing their e-commerce, with a growing percent tied to the store and incremental to the base business, and have new growth opportunities (including gaining more share of the Pro) as a result of these efforts.

24/7 Wall St.
Why Is Home Depot Escaping the Retail Collapse?

A few analysts weighed in on Lowe’s prior to the earnings report:

• BTIG has a Buy rating with a $95 price target.
• Longbow has a Buy rating with a $95 price target.
• Stifel has a Buy rating with an $87 price target.
• Jefferies has a Hold rating with an $89 price target.
• BMO has a Buy rating with an $89 price target.
• Sanford Bernstein has an Underperform rating with a $69 price target.

Shares of Lowe’s were last seen up about 1.7% to $75.13, with a consensus analyst price target of $88.69 and a 52-week range of $64.87 to $86.25.