Will Lowe’s Beat Out Home Depot in the Earnings Battle?

By Chris Lange Published May 19, 10:33AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Will Lowe’s Beat Out Home Depot in the Earnings Battle? — © Thinkstock

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW | LOW Price Prediction) is set to share its fiscal first-quarter results on Wednesday before the opening bell. The analysts’ consensus forecast is earnings per share (EPS) of $1.31 on revenue of $18.08 billion. In the same period of last year, the retailer posted $1.22 in EPS and $17.74 billion in revenue.

For a basis of comparison, Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reported its most recent quarterly results and it was somewhat underwhelming.

During the prior quarter, Lowe’s comparable sales increased 2.5% year over year. Comparable sales specifically for the U.S. home improvement business increased by 2.6%.

At the end of the fiscal 2019 full year, Lowe’s operated 1,977 home improvement and hardware stores in the United States and Canada.

[nativounit]

The company’s previously issued guidance for the fiscal 2020 full year called for EPS in the range of $6.45 to $6.65 and total sales growth of 2.5% to 3.0%. Consensus estimates currently call for $5.92 in EPS and $72.57 billion in revenue for the year.

Excluding Tuesday’s move, Lowe’s stock had outperformed the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average with a decline of over 2% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the share price was actually up 7%.

Here’s what analysts had to say about Lowe’s ahead of the report:

Baird has an Outperform rating with a $135 price target.
Piper Sandler has an Overweight rating and a $147 target.
Jefferies has a Buy rating with a $135 target price.
Wells Fargo rates it as Overweight with a $130 price target.

Lowe’s was trading up 1% at $118.21 a share on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $60.00 to $126.73. The consensus price target is $116.56.

[recirclink id=707613][wallst_email_signup]

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.