UPDATE: Lowe's Posts Rise In Q1 Profit, Lifts Full-Year Earnings Forecast

Lowe's Companies LOW reported a 16% rise in its fiscal first-quarter net income and lifted its full-year earnings guidance. Lowe's same-store sales rose 0.9% in the period ended May 2. Lowe's reported its quarterly earnings of $624 million, or $0.61 per share, versus $540 million, or $0.49 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain items, it earned $0.58 per share. Its net sales gained 2.4% to $13.4 billion from $13.1 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.60 per share on revenue of $13.86 billion. Its gross margin rose to 35.5% versus 34.8%, while input costs climbed 1.3% to $8.65 billion. Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman, president and CEO said, "We executed well during the quarter, despite an unexpectedly prolonged winter in many areas of the country." Lowe's now expects FY14 earnings of around $2.63 per share on total sales growth of 5%. Lowe's also projects to open about 10 home improvement and 5 hardware stores. The executive continued, "While poor weather dampened traffic and negatively impacted performance of exterior categories, results for indoor categories were solid. We effectively aligned inventory, staffing and marketing resources by climatic zone to best serve customers' needs. I would like to thank our employees for their dedication to serving customers.” Lowe's shares fell 0.07% to close at $45.52 yesterday.