Lowe’s Delivers Earnings Beat, Revenue Miss in Q1 2025 Results as Consumers Still ‘Sitting on the Sidelines’

Despite a dip in sales and diluted earnings per share (EPS) exhibited during its most recent Q1 2025 earnings results, shared via a May 21 press release, home improvement and hardware retailer Lowe’s maintained its full-year guidance — and beat at least one Wall Street expectation.

Sales ticked downward in the first quarter of this year, falling to $20.93 billion against $21.4 billion in 2024’s Q1. Wall Street expectations (provided by LSEG) had pegged revenue at $20.94 billion, meaning Lowe’s only narrowly missed LSEG projections.

Lowe’s’ EPS came in at $2.92, beating the $2.88 expected, but still came up short against an EPS of $3.06 as chalked up during Q1 2024.

Marvin R. Ellison, Lowe’s chairman, president, and CEO, was quoted as pointing toward recent investments and focus on customer service as bolstering the company’s bottom line, while also signaling that tariffs and other macroeconomic headwinds had been a struggle.

“Despite near-term uncertainty and housing market headwinds, our team’s unwavering focus on exceptional customer service has elevated satisfaction scores and earned Lowe’s the #1 ranking in Customer Satisfaction among Home Improvement Retailers by J.D. Power,” Ellison said.

“Strategic investments in technology, inviting store environments, and our dedicated associates continue to solidify our commitment to serving our customers and communities. I’d like to extend my appreciation to our front-line associates for the dedication and hard work especially during the busy spring season,” he added.

Lowe’s Retains Full-Year Sales Forecast, Despite Tariffs and Some Consumers ‘Sitting on the Sidelines’

Regardless of the turbulent U.S. economy and weakened consumer sentiment across a wide cross-section of Americans, Lowe’s maintained its full-year sales forecast of between $83.5 billion and $84.5 billion. If it achieves the upper range of that bracket, it would outperform last fiscal year’s total revenue of $83.67.

CNBC cited Lowe’s CFO Brandon Sink as blaming some of the softer sales numbers on poor weather in February. Further, Sink noted that the company’s target consumers might be overall “very healthy” but are still delaying more significant or costly purchases and projects.

Concerning those bigger-ticket layouts, Sink indicated that customers are “still mainly sitting on the sidelines,” and the CFO added a silver lining to the overall business portrait being painted: “The good news is the trends aren’t getting any worse.”

Sink indicated that Lowe’s is holding tight for the inevitable “inflection point” where consumers return to spending on discretionary projects and DIYers pick up the hammer and paintbrush to resume work — but such a time is not expected to come into play this fiscal year.