US Economy Sound Says Lowe’s Post Mixed Reports

On Wednesday, Lowe’s reported mixed earnings for 2018 fourth quarter. The retail company maintained a positive outlook about the US’s economy in 2019 by putting at rest the concerns of the investors.

The company said that Canada’s weak market of housing has hurt its recent results of the quarter. Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s CEO said that the macroeconomic fundamentals of US are sound for the year 2019. The company offered a predicted range for 2019 which looked slightly better than the expected range.

Ellison said that when they take into consideration the consumers, they look positive because of the growth in income and employment. He added that the consumer’s balance sheet seems to be the most healthy that they have witnessed in long span. The retail company is expecting that instead of buying new homes, more Americans will be restoring their homes in 2019 and therefore they will be buying huge amounts of tools, paint, and new appliances. Ellison said that people are putting money into their existing houses. Lowe’s reported a loss of $824 million per share as compared to the net income of $554 million per share a year back. Not including onetime items, Lowe’s received 80 cents for every share, one penny per share ahead of the forecast of the analysts.

Ellison said that they anticipate weakness in the housing market of Canada soon, but they also remain upbeat about their market position in Canada and the potential of that business. Lowe’s revenue for fourth quarter jumped to $15.65 billion right from $15.49 billion last year. The analysts had expected for $15.74 billion.

Lowe’s said that throughout the quarter sales at its stores rose 1.7%, which missed the growth expectations of 2.1%. The company said that for its US home improvement store, the sale was up by 2.4%.