Home improvement retailer Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) reported first-quarter net earnings of $540 million, a 2.5 percent increase from last year's $527 million. Earnings per share increased 14.0 percent to $0.49 from $0.43 in prior year quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.51 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Sales for the quarter decreased about 0.5 percent to $13.09 billion from $13.15 billion in the first quarter of 2012, while comparable sales for the quarter decreased 0.7 percent. Twenty three analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $13.46 billion for the quarter.
Looking ahead for fiscal 2013, the company still expects earnings per share of about $2.05 on total sales increase of about 4 percent. Comparable sales are expected to increase approximately 3.5 percent. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $2.08 per share on revenues of $52.38 billion for fiscal 2013.
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