Lowe’s Stock Sinks. It’s the Latest to Lower Forecasts Amid Retail Gloom.

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Lowe’s is the latest retailer sounding a downbeat note on outlook and its stock is down.

The retailer followed rival

Home Depot

in cutting its full-year forecast on a downcast view of the home-improvement sector.  

Lowe’s shares were down 1.5% in premarket trading despite topping first-quarter expectations.

Lowe’s

(ticker: LOW) reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.67, up 5% from the same period the previous year. 

Total sales for the quarter were $22.3 billion. Lowe’s said comparable sales fell 4.3% from the previous year, driven by lumber deflation, unfavorable weather and discretionary home-improvement spending. 

Lowe’s had been expected to report adjusted earnings of $3.45 a share on sales of $21.60 billion, according to a FactSet poll of analysts’ estimates. 

“Although we delivered positive comparable sales in Pro and online for the first quarter, we are updating our full-year outlook to reflect softer-than-expected consumer demand for discretionary purchases,” said CEO Marvin Ellison. 

Lowe’s cut its full-year forecast for adjusted diluted earnings a share to $13.20-$13.60 from $13.60-$14.00 previously. 

Lowe’s said it now expects total annual sales of approximately $87 billion-$89 billion, down from $88 billion-90 billion previously. It expects comparable sales to fall from the previous year by a range of 2% to 4%, against a previous forecast of a range of flat sales to a drop of 2%.  

The retailer followed peer Home Depot (HD), which cut both its top- and bottom-line guidance for the full fiscal year last week. Home Depot said it expects sales to fall in a range of 2% to 5% from 2022.

Home Depot shares were down 0.3% in premarket trading.

Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]