Lowe's COO to Retire, Earnings Beat Estimates

Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) said Tuesday that Chief Operating Officer Rick Damron, a 36-year veteran of the company, will retire in February of next year.

The home improvement retailer said Richard Maltsbarger, the company's chief development officer and president of its international business, will take his place. Mr. Damron has been COO since 2012. Mr. Maltsbarger, 42, has been with Lowe's since 2004 when he joined the company as customer analytics director.

The company also announced a third-quarter profit of $872 million, or $1.05 a share, more than double the $379 million, or 43 cents a share, the company made a year ago. Adjusted earnings were $1.05 a share, up from 88 cents a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected adjusted earnings per share of $1.02.

Net sales at the company rose 6.6% to $16.77 billion, beating analysts' expectations of $16.59 billion. The company said $200 million in sales came in from the hurricanes. Comparable sales rose 5.7%.

Lowe's said it bought back $500 million in stock in the quarter.

For the fiscal year, Lowe's said it expects sales up by about 5% and comparable sales to rise by about 3.5%.

Lowe's shares were up 1.9% in premarket trading.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2017 07:01 ET (12:01 GMT)