Lowe’s Cos. LOW posted a mixed fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report Wednesday, beating profit expectations but failing to clear analysts’ bar for revenue. The company generated net earnings of $957 million, or $1.58 a share, compared with $1.21 billion, or $1.78 a share, in the year-before quarter. On an adjusted basis, Lowe’s earned $2.28 a share, while analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $2.21 a share. Revenue rose to $22.4 billion from $21.3 billion but fell a hair shy of the FactSet consensus, which was for $22.7 billion. Comparable-store sales fell by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, while the FactSet consensus was for flat performance. Comparable sales for the company’s U.S. home-improvement business declined 0.7%. Lowe’s noted in its release that a 14th week in the calendar added about $1.4 billion to its quarterly sales but that comparable-store sales are based on a comparable number of weeks relative to a year before. The company anticipates $80 billion to $90 billion in revenue for the full fiscal year, while analysts were modeling $90.4 billion. Lowe’s also expects that comparable sales will be flat to off 2% relative to a year earlier. The FactSet consensus was for a 1.2% decline. Shares of Lowe’s were up about 0.3% in premarket trading Wednesday.
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