Lowe’s (LOW) seems to be slowly building momentum to kick-start 2025.
The home improvement retailer beat Wall Street’s estimates for the fourth quarter. On Wednesday before the market open, Lowe’s reported Q4 revenue of $18.6 billion, higher than the $18.3 billion the Street expected, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.93, above the Street’s estimates of $1.84.
Same-store sales increased 0.2%, turning positive for the first time in roughly two years. However, sales gains were partially offset by foot traffic, down 1.3%, as pressure in do-it-yourself discretionary spending remains and consumers put off big projects over stubbornly higher mortgage rates.
Lowe’s stock rose 3% in early afternoon trading Wednesday.
During the earnings call, Lowe’s chairman and CEO Marvin Ellison said that sales were largely driven by high-single-digit sales growth in its Pro business and online sales, as well as record-breaking sales during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday holidays.
The average ticket size increased by 1.5%, and Lowe’s executive vice president of merchandising, Bill Boltz, noted strong sales growth in appliances during the quarter.
Storm recovery spending following Hurricanes Helene and Milton also lifted same-store sales by roughly 100 basis points, CFO Brandon Sink said.
Here’s what Lowe’s reported for its fourth quarter earnings compared to Wall Street consensus estimates, compiled by Bloomberg:
-
Revenue: $18.6 billion, versus $18.3 billion
-
Adjusted earnings per share: $1.93, versus $1.84
-
Same-store sales growth: +0.2%, versus -1.91%
Here’s what Lowe’s posted for its full-year results. compared to Bloomberg consensus estimates:
-
Revenue: $83.67 billion, versus $83.42 billion
-
Adjusted earnings per share: $12.23, versus $11.94
For the full 2025 fiscal year, the company expects total sales to be between $83.5 billion and $84.5 billion. Same-store sales are expected to be flat to up 1% compared to a year ago.
Lowe’s outlook fell below Wall Street’s expectations, highlighting more cautious consumer spending in the year ahead. On the call, Sink partially attributed the softer outlook to bad weather in January, which led to a “slower start” in February, and the diminishing benefit from hurricane recovery spending.
Executives at Lowe’s said they anticipate homeowners will choose to renovate their homes rather than move due to stubbornly high mortgage rates.
“At some point, customers are going to get normalized in this high mortgage rate environment and they’re going to start to tap into that equity, making the decision that they’re going to stay in their existing home but modernize,” Ellison told analysts and investors on the earnings call.
