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| Lowe's reports lower than expected first-quarter profit  Lowe's Companies, Inc., the world's second-largest home improvement retailer, reported net earnings of $739 million for the quarter ended May 4, 2007, a 12.1 percent decline versus the same period a year ago. Diluted earnings per share declined 9.4 percent to $0.48 from $0.53 in the first quarter of 2006. Sales for the quarter increased 2.1% percent to $12.2 billion, up from $11.9 billion in the first quarter of 2006. Comparable store sales for the first quarter declined 6.3 percent.In a statement, Lowe’s said multiple factors, including a difficult housing market in many areas, tough comparisons to hurricane rebuilding efforts, and significant lumber and plywood price deflation, continued to create a challenging sales environment in the first quarter. It also said mild temperatures and solid sales in March were more than offset by record cold and wet weather across much of the U.S. during the first two weeks of April. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |