Why Lowe's Stock is Falling Despite an Earnings Beat

Dow Jones
Aug 19

Lowe's stock was falling on Wednesday after the home improvement retailer's disappointing full-year guidance overshadowed a second-quarter earnings beat.

Shares fell 2.9% to $209.50 ahead of the opening bell. Futures tracking the S&P 500 were trading flat.

Lowe's posted adjusted earnings of $4.40 a share for the quarter, as total sales jumped more than 8% from a year ago to $26 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $4.22 a share on sales of $26.1 billion.

Weak revenue wasn't the only problem. The company also said its full-year earnings and revenue would come in at the bottom end of the range it had previously forecast.

Lowe's now expects adjusted earnings of $12.25 a share and revenue of $92 billion for the year ending January 2027. Wall Street was looking for earnings of $12.43 a share and sales of $92.9 billion.

The results were piling on the pain for a stock that was already down 11% for the year through Tuesday's close. The housing market is recovering, but high prices have weighed on home improvement spending in 2026.

This is breaking news. Read a preview of Lowe's earnings below and check back for more analysis soon.

Lowe's struggles reflect a difficult housing market in the U.S. However, its upcoming second-quarter results could give the shares a much-needed boost.

Consensus calls for Lowe's to earn $4.22 a share, a decline from the year-ago period, on revenue of $26.1 billion.

Expectations for the home improvement industry are low overall, as both Home Depot and Lowe's have seen their shares decline over the past year. Lowe's is down nearly 11% since the start of 2026.

Although the housing market is slowly improving and lawmakers are trying to address the affordability crisis, the recovery is uneven, while high prices mean that new homeowners may not be able to make all the changes they'd like.

Nonetheless, there are a few factors that could help Lowe's specifically. The shares have underperformed Home Depot since the companies' first-quarter reports, but data from Placer.ai show that Lowe's visits were slightly better than those of its main rival during the second quarter. The bar is also low for the industry in general, and Lowe's stock is cheaper than Home Depot's.

Seventy percent of analysts tracked by FactSet have a Buy rating or the equivalent on the shares, with an average price target more than 20% above where Lowe's currently trades.

 

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