Buying & Selling: Lowe's, HR Block Bitten By Housing Slump

Just as Lowe's has been following on the coattails of Home Depot, so too does the home improvement chain now play "Me too" by posting lower earnings due to flagging business:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Lowe’s Cos., the nation’s second biggest home improvement store chain, said Friday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 11.5 percent due to a slowing home improvement market amid a continued slump in the housing sector.The Mooresville, N.C.-based retailer said it earned $613 million, or 40 cents a share, for the three months ended Feb. 2, down from $693 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier...On Tuesday, bigger rival Home Depot Inc. said its fourth-quarter income dropped 28 percent. Its same-store sales dropped 6.6 percent.

“Sales continued to be pressured by a slowing housing market, tough comparisons to last year’s hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts and significant deflation in lumber and plywood prices,” Robert A. Niblock, Lowe’s chairman and chief executive said in a statement accompanying the results.

Talk about getting low(es)! :)

Not to be outdone, financial services/tax prep giant H&R Block was celebrating generally successful profits, except, of course, for its crumblingOption One subprime unit:

Excluding results from its Option One Mortgage unit, Block reported earnings from continuing operations of $25 million, or 8 cents a share. That was below analysts’ average expectation of 12 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. A year earlier, the company had a loss from continuing operations of $30.2 million, or 9 cents, due to soaring legal costs.

Option One has been investigated on charges of predatory lending, and will probably be cast off from H&R Block before 2007 is done.

How much longer do you think the Fed will manage to keep the bleeding of the mortgage industry contained?

Posted at February 23, 2007 04:19 PM

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Just as Lowe's has been following on the coattails of Home Depot, so too does the home improvement chain now play "Me too" by posting lower earnings due to flagging business: CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Lowe’s Cos., the nation’s second biggest home improvement store chain, said Friday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 11.5 percent due to a slowing home improvement market amid a continued slump in the housing sector.The Mooresville, N.C.-based retailer said it earned $613 million, or 40 cents a share, for the three months ended Feb. 2, down from $693 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier...On Tuesday, bigger rival Home Depot Inc. said its fourth-quarter income dropped 28 percent. Its same-store sales dropped 6.6 percent. “Sales continued to be pressured by a slowing housing market, tough comparisons to last year’s hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts and significant deflation in lumber and plywood prices,” Robert A. Niblock, Lowe’s chairman and chief executive said in a statement accompanying the results. Talk about getting low(es)! :) Not to be outdone, financial services/tax prep giant H&R Block was celebrating generally successful profits, except, of course, for its crumblingOption One subprime unit: Excluding results from its Option One Mortgage unit, Block reported earnings from continuing operations of $25 million, or 8 cents a share. That was below analysts’ average expectation of 12 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. A year earlier, the company had a loss from continuing operations of $30.2 million, or 9 cents, due to soaring legal costs. Option One has been investigated on charges of predatory lending, and will probably be cast off from H&R Block before 2007 is done. How much longer do you think the Fed will manage to keep the bleeding of the mortgage industry contained?