Home Depot, Lowe’s hammer home big second quarters
Within a day of each other, The Home Depot and Lowe’s both recorded second quarter earnings higher than expected, thanks to consumers at home doing more home improvement projects to keep busy during the coronavirus pandemic.
For Home Depot, net earnings reached $4.3 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 2 and same-store sales increased by 25% in the United States.
"The investments we have made across the business have significantly increased our agility, allowing us to respond quickly to changes while continuing to promote a safe operating environment. This enhanced our team's ability to work cross-functionally to better serve our customers and deliver record-breaking sales in the quarter," said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president.
For Lowe’s, same-store sales increased just over 35% in the United States and net earnings hit $2.82 billion for the quarter ended July 31, a near 69% increase, year over year.
Both retailers, as many others right now, reported big digital increases with Home Depot saying sales doubled and that about 60% of orders were being ordered for pickup at physical locations. Lowe’s reported a 135% sales increase digitally.
"We delivered very strong second quarter results, with all merchandising divisions posting comparable sales growth exceeding 20% and all U.S. geographic regions delivering comparable sales growth of at least 30%,” said Marvin R. Ellison, Lowe's president and CEO. “Sales were driven by a consumer focus on the home, core repair and maintenance activities, and wallet share shift away from other discretionary spending.”