Retail Earnings Parade Continues: Home Depot, Lowe's In The Spotlight

• The big retailers continue taking their turns on the earnings stage this week.
• Highlights include the most recent quarterly results from two leading home improvement superstore operators.
• Wall Street analysts are looking for solid earnings growth from each of them.

So far, the most recent quarterly results from retailers have not been encouraging. But the parade of earnings reports from big retailers continues this week, with some of the largest big-box store operators expected to take their turns.

That includes the latest results from rival home improvement superstore chains Home Depot Inc HD and Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW. Wall Street analysts are looking for solid top- and bottom-line growth from both. However, larger Home Depot has had a better track record of topping earnings expectations in recent quarters.

Below is a quick look at what analysts expect from these two reports, followed by a glance at some of the other most anticipated earnings results from retailers scheduled for this week.

Home Depot

Wall Street's consensus forecast for the specialty retailer calls for the fiscal first-quarter earnings per share (EPS) to have risen about 14 percent from a year ago to $1.35. That estimate has increased by two cents in the past 30 days. While the Estimize forecast calls for a $1.34 per share, its estimates in the previous two quarters fell short of Home Depot's actual earnings results.

The forecast from a consensus of 114 Estimize respondents has revenue in the quarter totaling $22.12 billion. That is again short of the Wall Street expectations of $22.35 billion, which would be a gain of about 7 percent from in the same period of last year. Home Depot is scheduled to report before Tuesday's opening bell.

Related Link: Retail Earnings Parade Begins: Target, Wal-Mart In The Spotlight

Lowe's

When the second-largest hardware chain in the world shares its fiscal first-quarter results early Wednesday, Wall Street forecast it will post EPS of $0.85, along with revenue of $14.84 billion. That would be up from the $0.70 per share and $14.13 billion reported in the same period last year. The current EPS estimate has ticked up by a penny in the past 30 days.

The 18 Estimize survey respondents have similar expectations for the period, calling for earnings to have risen to $0.85 per share on $14.81 billion in revenue (up 5 percent year-over-year). But, note that Estimize narrowly overestimated EPS and underestimated revenue in the previous period.

And Others

Other retailers that Wall Street analysts expect to show at least some earnings growth when they report this week include Advance Auto Parts, American Eagle Outfitters, Cato, Children's Place, Citi Trends, Foot Locker, Hibbett Sports, New York & Company, Ross Stores, Shoe Carnival, Target, TJX Companies and Vipshop. The consensus forecast calls for EPS at Urban Outfitters to be the same as in the year-ago period.

On the other hand, EPS at Boot Barn, Buckle, Dick's Sporting Goods, Gap, L Brands, Staples, Stein Mart and Wal-Mart Stores will be smaller than a year ago, according to the consensus estimates. And net losses are in the cards for Bon-Ton Stores, Gordmans Stores, HHGregg and Stage Stores, if expectations are accurate.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.