In the first quarter, Lowe’s Cos. saw its comparable sales turn down in the consumer business but gain substantially on a two-year basis.
A Yahoo Finance-published analyst consensus estimate called for first-quarter earnings per share of $3.22 per diluted share, giving Lowe’s a beat, and $23.76 in revenues, a little more than Lowe’s managed.
Comparable sales decreased 4% in the quarter year over year, the company reported. Comps for the home improvement business in the United States decreased 3.8% while those in the pro customer business increased 20% versus the year-past period. On a two-year basis, the company maintained, U.S. comps increased by 19.7%.
Total sales for the first quarter were $23.66 billion compared to $24.42 billion in the first quarter of 2021, Lowe’s stated.
As of April 29, Lowe’s operated 1,971 home improvement and hardware stores across the U.S. and Canada.
“Our sales this quarter were in line with our expectations, excluding our outdoor seasonal categories that were impacted by unseasonably cold temperatures in April,” Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s chairman, president and CEO, said in announcing the financial results. “Because 75% of our customer base is DIY, our Q1 sales were disproportionately impacted by the cooler spring temperatures. Now that spring has finally arrived, we are pleased with the improved sales trends we are seeing in May. This quarter we delivered over 65 basis points of operating margin improvement, driven by our Total Home strategy and the execution of our Perpetual Productivity Improvement or PPI initiatives. Despite some increased uncertainty in the macro-environment, we remain confident in the outlook for the home improvement market and our ability to deliver operating margin expansion in 2022.”
