Lowe's 2Q results beat Street, boosts outlooks

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Lowe's second-quarter net income rose 26 percent, buoyed by the housing market's ongoing recovery.

The second-largest home-improvement chain's results beat Wall Street expectations. It also raised its full-year earnings and revenue forecasts Wednesday.

The strong performance comes a day after rival Home Depot Inc.'s results topped analysts' estimates and it lifted its outlooks.

For the period ended Aug. 2, Lowe's earned $941 million, or 88 cents per share. That's up from $747 million, or 64 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue increased 10 percent to $15.71 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of 79 cents per share on revenue of $15.07 billion.

Revenue at stores open at least a year climbed 9.6 percent.

Lowe's Cos., based in Mooresville, N.C., had 1,758 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico at quarter's end.