Lowe's Companies Inc. today reported net earnings of $396 million for the quarter ended Nov. 2, a 76.0 percent increase over the same quarter of 2011. Sales for the third quarter increased 1.9 percent to $12.1 billion from $11.9 billion in the third quarter of 2011.
Diluted earnings per share increased 94.4 percent over the same quarter a year ago to $0.35; for the nine months ended Nov. 2, diluted earnings per share increased 21.4 percent over the same period of 2011 to $1.42.
Comparable store sales for the third quarter increased 1.8 percent on a consolidated basis as well as for the U.S. business. For the nine-month period, comparable store sales increased 1.3 percent, while comparable store sales for the U.S. business increased 1.4 percent.
"We are keenly focused on improving our core business," said Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman, president and CEO, in a statement. "Our level of execution is improving and we delivered solid results in the third quarter." Niblock also expressed sympathy for those impacted by Hurricane Sandy and noted that Lowe's is contributing $1 million to the relief efforts through various partner organizations.
The company said it is delivering on its commitment to return excess cash to shareholders and has repurchased $850 million, or 29.6 million shares, of stock and paid $184 million in dividends in the third quarter. For the nine month period, the company repurchased $3.6 billion or 124.4 million shares of common stock and paid $524 million in dividends.
As of November 2, Lowe's operated 1,750 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico representing 197.0 million square feet of retail selling space.
