Lowe's earnings, same-store sales top expectations

Lowe's Companies Inc. on Wednesday posted same-store sales and quarterly profit figures that were ahead of Wall Street's targets. The home-improvement retailer said first-quarter earnings were $884 million, or 98 cents a share, compared with $673 million, or 70 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue was $15.23 billion, up from $14.13 billion in the same period last year. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 85 cents a share on sales of $14.87 billion. U.S. same-store sales rose 7.5% during the quarter, above a 4.7% consensus forecast.

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