Post-Earnings Analysis - Lowe's Cos

LONDON, August 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Investor-Edge.com has issued free post-earnings analysis on Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW). The company reported its second quarter results for the fiscal year 2014 on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. For the second quarter ended August 01, 2014, Lowe's Cos. Inc.'s diluted earnings per share increased $0.16 on a Y-o-Y basis and net earnings grew 10.4% Y-o-Y. Our free coverage report can be accessed at:

http://www.investor-edge.com/register

Earnings Overview  

For Q2 FY14, Lowe's Cos. Inc.'s net earnings increased to $1.04 billion, compared with $941 million in the year ago period. During the reported quarter, the company's diluted EPS rose 18.2% to $1.04 from $0.88 in Q2 FY13. Analysts from Bloomberg were anticipating net earnings of $1.03 billion and diluted EPS of $1.02 in Q2 FY14. For the second quarter FY14, the company reported net sales of $16.60 billion, compared with $15.71 billion in the preceding year quarter. During the reported quarter, the company's comparable sales increased 4.4%. For the six months ended August 01, 2014, the company's net sales grew 4.2% to $30.0 billion from $28.8 billion in the same period a year ago, while the company's comparable sales increased 2.8%. For the six months ended August 01, 2014, Lowe's Cos. Inc.'s net earnings increased 12.2% from the same period a year ago to $1.66 billion, and diluted EPS rose 20.6% YoY to $1.64. The free research on LOW can be downloaded as in PDF format at:

http://www.Investor-Edge.com/LOWFreeReport

During Q2 FY14, the company repurchased $1.1 billion of its common stock under its share repurchase program and paid $183 million in dividends to its shareholders. For the six months ended August 01, 2014, the company repurchased $2.0 billion of stock under its share repurchase program and paid $369 million in dividends. 

Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's Cos. Inc.'s Chairman, President and CEO, appreciated the hard work of its employees during the peak selling season, and informed that it has enabled the company to deliver solid results for the second quarter. He added that the company was able to recover most of the outdoor product sales missed in the first quarter due to unfavourable weather conditions. Mr. Niblock informed that the company expects home improvement spending to continually progress in tandem with strengthening job and income growth. He added that the company's year-to-date sales performance, together with its previous assumptions for the second half of 2014, result in a modest reduction to the company's sales forecast for the year, while the company's diluted EPS outlook is unchanged. Sign up and read the free analyst's notes on LOW at:

http://www.Investor-Edge.com/LOW-29082014

As of August 01, 2014, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based Company operated 1,837 home improvement and hardware stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico, representing 200.8 million square feet of retail selling space. On the basis of its year-to-date sales performance and its previous assumptions for the second half of 2014, the company provided its outlook for FY14 on US GAAP basis. For FY14, the company expects total sales to rise approximately 4.5% from FY13. Comparable sales are projected to increase approximately 3.5% from the previous fiscal year. During FY14, the company plans to open approximately 10 home improvement and 5 hardware stores. For FY14, Lowe's operating margins are expected to increase approximately 65 basis points Y-o-Y, while the effective income tax rate is projected to be approximately 37.2%. Further, the company is anticipating diluted EPS of approximately $2.63 for the fiscal year ending January 30, 2015.

Stock Performance    

On Wednesday, August 20, 2014, day of the earnings release, shares in Lowe's Cos. Inc. advanced 1.57% to end the session at $52.33. On the last close, Thursday, August 28, 2014, the stock edged 0.04% higher to end the session at $52.54. The stock vacillated between $52.03 and $52.69 during the session. A total of 4.36 million shares were traded, which was below its three months average volume of 5.50 million shares. Over the last one month and from the beginning of 2014, the company's shares have gained 10.17% and 6.03%, respectively. However, the stock has edged lower by 0.30% in the previous three trading sessions. Shares in Lowe's Cos. Inc. are trading above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $48.55 and $47.91, respectively. Moreover, the stock traded at a PE ratio of 21.44 and has a Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 75.64. Visit Investor-Edge and access the latest research on LOW at:

http://www.Investor-Edge.com/LOWEarningsCoverage

Sneak Peek to Corporate Insider Trading  

On August 22, 2014, Ms. Maureen K. Ausura, Lowe's Cos. Inc.'s Chief Human Resource Officer, sold 15,979 shares, worth $838,581 at a price of $52.48 per share. Complimentary in-depth research on LOW is available at:

http://www.Investor-Edge.com/LOWInsiderTrading

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