Lowe's posts 4Q profit, results top Wall Street forecasts

Lowe's Cos. (LOW) on Wednesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $450 million.

On a per-share basis, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based company said it had net income of 46 cents.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 44 cents per share.

The home improvement retailer posted revenue of $12.54 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Analysts expected $12.29 billion, according to Zacks.

Lowe's expects full-year earnings to be $3.29 per share.

Lowe's shares have climbed 8.5 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed roughly 3 percent. The stock has climbed 59 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LOW at http://www.zacks.com/ap/LOW

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Keywords: Lowe's, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings