Lowe’s (LOW) Is About to Report Q1 Earnings. Here’s What to Expect

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) is scheduled to announce its results for the first quarter of Fiscal 2025 before the market opens on Wednesday, May 21. Analysts are cautious about the company’s Q1 FY25 results due to unfavorable weather and concerns about consumer spending amid tariff pressures and macro uncertainties. Wall Street expects Lowe’s to report EPS (earnings per share) of $2.88, reflecting a decline of about 6%.

Analysts expect revenue to fall about 2% to $20.95 billion.

Despite elevated mortgage rates and a challenging business backdrop, Lowe’s reported market-beating results for the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2024. In fact, comparable sales or same-store sales grew 0.2% in Q4 FY24 after eight straight quarters of decline. Nonetheless, full-year same-store sales continued to be in the red. According to Main Street Data, LOW’s same-store sales declined by 2.7% in Fiscal 2024. The company said that it expects its sales slump to end in Fiscal 2025.

Analysts’ Views Ahead of Lowe’s Q1 Earnings

Heading into the results, Bernstein analyst Zhihan Ma reiterated a Buy rating on Home Depot stock with a price target of $380. Ma expects a relatively weak Q1 for both Lowe’s and rival Home Depot (HD), with a decline of 2% and 0.5% expected in their same-store sales, respectively, due to unfavorable weather, weak consumer sentiment, and mixed performance from peers and suppliers. Given the recent easing of tariff tensions, the analyst sees more moderate tariff risks but continues to expect muted home improvement demand, as mortgage rates remain elevated at nearly 7% and consumer spending power continues to be restricted.

Ma doesn’t expect a significant rebound in HD’s and LOW’s comp sales growth to the 3.0%-3.5% range until Fiscal 2027. He continues to prefer LOW stock over HD in the near to medium term, as there is less execution risk involved in its strategy to pursue the “low”-hanging fruit to grow Pro sales and realize cost savings. He also expects LOW to rebound more sharply than HD in the event of recovery, given its greater exposure to DIY (do-it-yourself), discretionary categories. The analyst expects both HD and LOW to be driven by the housing market backdrop and the market’s inflation/rate expectations more than fundamentals in the near term.

Meanwhile, Citi analyst Steven Zaccone lowered the price target for Lowe’s stock to $253 from $269, while maintaining a Hold rating. The analyst expects the company to report a modest miss on Q1 FY25 EPS due to lower same-store sales, indicating choppy weather patterns, mainly in the South, and softer DIY demand. Given the slow start, Zaccone expects management to have expectations near the low end of prior guidance for FY25.

Here’s What Options Traders Anticipate

Using TipRanks’ Options tool, we can see what options traders are expecting from the stock immediately after its earnings report. The expected earnings move is determined by calculating the at-the-money straddle of the options closest to expiration after the earnings announcement. If this sounds complicated, don’t worry, the Options tool does this for you.

Indeed, it currently says that options traders are expecting about a 5% move in either direction in LOW stock in reaction to Q1 FY25 results.

Is Lowe’s Stock a Buy?

Overall, Wall Street is cautiously optimistic on Lowe’s stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 13 Buys and nine Holds. The average LOW stock price target of $268.10 implies about 14.5% upside potential from current levels.

See more LOW analyst ratings