Home Improvement retailer Lowe's (LOW) will report first quarter results tomorrow morning and host a call at 9:00.
Analysts are looking for Q1 EPS of $1.21 (vs. $1.03 last year) with revenue up 3.4% to $17.44 billion and comps up 3%. Comp estimates were above 4% one month ago.
Demand for hosing remains strong, which bodes well for Lowe's. However, last week, rival Home Depot (HD) missed comp estimates for the first time in seven quarters, citing the cold April weather, mostly impacting the gardening segment. Home Depot said sales rebounded to double digit growth in May. Spring is the home improvement sector's holiday season.
Lowe's has guided for FY19 EPS of of $5.40-5.50 with sales up 4%, comps up 3.5% and operating margin contraction of 30%.
TECHS:
With a $71 billion market cap, LOW trades at just under 16x EPS. HD has a $215 billion market cap with just 6% more stores but 47% more sales (last year) and trades at just under 20x EPS.