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BUSINESS A25
Thursday 25 February 2016
Lowe’s revenue jumps in 4Q as housing market warms
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) is usually a slower quar- tions, according to a poll Sales at stores open at least and CEO Robert Niblock
— Lowe’s revenue for the ter for the industry. For the by Zacks Investment Re- a year climbed 5.2 percent said in a written statement
fourth quarter beat most three months ended Jan. search. as expected. Wednesday.
expectations and its profit 29, Lowe’s earned $11 mil- A year earlier the Moores- At U.S. locations, same- A day earlier, rival Home
outlook for the year did lion, or a penny per share. ville, North Carolina-based store sales increased 5.5 Depot Inc. reported a
too amid a housing recov- Excluding a $530 million company earned $450 mil- percent. “We capitalized better-than-expected
ery that is sending more impairment charge tied to lion, or 46 cents per share. on increased demand for fourth-quarter profit and
do-it-yourselfers through its the company’s exit from Revenue rose to $13.24 exterior products as a re- revenue and higher same-
doors. Unseasonably warm an Australian joint venture, billion from $12.54 billion, sult of warmer weather, store sales, also benefiting
weather also meant that earnings were 59 cents per which was better than the while at the same time from the recovering hous-
home owners tackled proj- share, which was in line $13.05 billion that analysts helped customers tackle ing market and pleasant
ects outside during what with Wall Street expecta- were projecting. interior projects,” Chairman weather.q
Target’s 4Q profits miss estimates on heavy discounting
A. D’INNOCENZIO lose its mojo when its focus Shows the exterior of the CityTarget store in Boston. Target reported financial results on
AP Retail Writer shifted to an expanded Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target’s grocery section. It seemed
heavy discounting during slower in getting ahead of (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
the crucial holiday season style trends then it had in
squeezed fourth-quarter the past. per share in the year-ago below the $1.54 per-share gories — fashion, baby, kids
profits. But its trendy assort- This past holiday season, period, when the compa- projections from Wall Street, and wellness, grew more
ments and spiffed up pre- Target battled it out with ny incurred hefty charges according to FactSet. than three times faster than
sentations induced shop- Wal-Mart and online lead- related to its retreat from Revenue slipped 0.6 per- the company average dur-
pers to spend more. er Amazon.com, heav- Canada. cent to $21.63 billion on the ing the fourth quarter.
The company, based in ily discounting goods, and The heavy competition sale of its pharmacy busi- “Target’s results demon-
Minneapolis, also offered brought back free shipping that forced steep discounts ness to CVS, also just shy of strate that we are focused
an upbeat outlook, send- online. Traffic in stores rose did take its toll. Wall Street expectations. on the right strategic priori-
ing shares more than 3 per- and online sales surged 34 Adjusted earnings results That revenue metric for its ties,” said Cornell in a com-
cent higher. percent, after online sales were $1.52 per share, a bit so-called signature cate- pany release. q
The results, released jumped 30 percent in the
Wednesday, show Target quarter before.
has made solid progress The maneuvers helped
in reinvigorating its busi- drive comparable-store
ness and winning back sales up by 1.9 percent, the
shoppers. It initiated an ag- sixth consecutive quarterly
gressive plan to regain its increase. Customer traffic
cheap chic status in 2014 rose for the fifth quarter in
under new CEO Brian Cor- a row. In the same quarter,
nell after a series of head- Wal-Mart stores in the U.S.
line grabbing setbacks, recorded a 0.6 percent in-
including a major debit crease in revenue at stores
and credit card breach opened at least a year.
that hurt sales and profits Global online sales for Wal-
for months. Under Cornell, Mart Stores Inc. slowed to 8
the company got rid of its percent.
money-losing Canadian Target earned $1.43 bil-
operations and it shook up lion, or $2.32 per share in
its leadership ranks. the quarter ended Jan.
During the recession the 30. That compares with a
company appeared to loss of $2.64 billion, or $4.10
Home Depot wraps up big year with another big quarter
ATLANTA (AP) — Home for this sector of the retail The stronger-than-expect- Home Depot earned $1.47 a year, a key indicator of a
industry. ed start follows a very big billion, or $1.17 per share, retailer’s health, climbed
Depot reported better- It is a good omen as tax re- year for housing in 2015. for the three months ended 7.1 percent. At U.S. loca-
fund and home upgrade Builders last year broke Jan. 31. A year earlier the tions, they increased 8.9
than-expected profit and season approaches. ground on 1.1 million prop- Atlanta company earned percent.
And there were more signs erties, the most since 2007 $1.38 billion, or $1.05 per For the year, The Home De-
revenue in the fourth quar- of strength Tuesday on the when the housing bubble share. The per-share earn- pot Inc. reported a profit of
housing front. was beginning to burst ings were 7 cents better $5.46 per share on revenue
ter and comparable-store U.S. home sales crept up- into a broader recession. than Wall Street had ex- of $88.52 billion. Fiscal 2015
ward in January, when The National Association pected, according to ana- results included a pretax ex-
sales jumped as the com- most economists were pro- of Realtors reported last lysts surveyed by Zacks In- pense of 6 cents per share
jecting a decline. The me- month that that sales of vestment Research. related to the company’s
pany continues to ride a dian home sales price was existing homes climbed Revenue rose to $20.98 bil- 2014 data breach.
$213,800, up 8.2 percent 14.7 percent in December, lion from $19.16 billion, also Home Depot said Tuesday
sustained recovery in the from a year ago, accord- capping a year in that pro- topping the $20.35 billion that it is raising its quarterly
ing to the National Associa- duced the highest annual that analysts projected. dividend by a dime, to 69
housing market. tion of Realtors. sales total since 2006. Sales at stores open at least cents per share. q
The nation’s largest home
improvement retailer
boosted its quarterly divi-
dend by 17 percent and
shares rose 1.4 percent to
$124.53 Tuesday on pow-
erhouse earnings in what
is typically a down season
