Lowe’s Q3 Net Spikes 25.8 Percent

Sales of existing homes rose 4.7 percent in September, according to The National Association of Realtors, indicating that demand for housing remains steady. Sales at U.S. Lowe’s stores rose 5%, a stronger showing than the roughly 4% increase forecast by analysts at Credit Suisse.

Home Depot Inc, Lowe’s larger rival, on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected 5.1 percent rise in third-quarter same-store sales and said rising home prices was a key growth driver. For the fiscal year, Lowe’s now expects net sales to rise by between 4.5 and 5 percent, with a same-store sales gain of 4 to 4.5 percent.

Lowe’s reported a $736 million profit in the third quarter of 2015, a 25.8 percent increase year-over-year.

Lowe’s returned $1.01 billion of cash to shareholders through $750 million in stock buyback spending and $260 million in dividend payments. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) of $0.80 were higher than the analysts’ expectations of $0.78. Revenue was $14.4 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago and above the Wall Street estimate of $14.3 billion.

Analysts had expected earnings of 78 cents a share and revenue of $14.34 billion in revenue for the period, according to Thomson Reuters.

However, while Home Depot had said it expects full-year profit and same-store sales to be at the top end of its forecast, Lowe’s maintained its profit and same-store sales growth forecasts for the year ending January.

Comparable sales for its home improvement locations in the USA were up by 5%.