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Lowe's Reports Record Third Quarter Earnings.

Article Excerpt
-- Third Quarter Diluted Earnings Per Share Increased 15 Percent --

MOORESVILLE, N.C., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lowe's Companies, Inc. , the world's second largest home improvement retailer, today reported net earnings of $716 million for the quarter ended November 3, 2006, a 10.8 percent increase over the same period a year ago. Diluted earnings per share increased 15.0 percent to $0.46 from $0.40 in the third quarter of 2005. For the nine months ended November 3, 2006, net earnings grew 20.3 percent to $2.49 billion while diluted earnings per share increased 23.3 percent to $1.59.

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Sales for the quarter increased 5.8 percent to $11.2 billion, up from $10.6 billion in the third quarter of 2005. For the nine months ended November 3, 2006, sales increased 12.6 percent to $36.5 billion. Year-to-date total sales results were impacted by the calendar shift described in the business outlook section of this release. Comparable store sales for the third quarter declined 4.0 percent. For the first nine months of 2006, comparable store sales increased 1.7 percent.

"The combined effects of a slowing housing market in parts of the U.S., significant deflation in certain commodity categories, and a difficult comparison to last year's hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts have created a challenging sales environment for home improvement," commented Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman, president and CEO. "Despite these challenges, we continue to gain market share in key product categories and achieved industry-leading share gains across the total store according to third-party estimates. We continue to see solid performance from our new stores and remain focused on delivering the superior service customers expect from Lowe's.

"We believe many external headwinds will exist through the balance of the year and the first half of fiscal 2007, but as we look to the future, we are confident that solid longer-term drivers of our...