(Reuters) – Home improvement chain Lowe’s Cos Inc raised its full-year sales forecast on Wednesday, boosted by higher demand from builders and contractors, as well as a strong U.S. housing market.
The company’s shares rose about 3% in premarket trading.
High-spending professional contractors have been splurging on tools and building materials at home improvement retailers over the last few months on the back of the rush to complete a backlog of home repair and upgrade jobs that were put off during the pandemic.
Rising home prices in the United States has also given people confidence to invest in upgrade jobs for their homes.
Lowe’s said it expects fiscal year 2021 total sales of about $95 billion, compared to a previous forecast of about $92 billion.
Same-store sales rose 2.2% in the third quarter ended Oct. 29, compared to analysts’ estimates of a 2.9% drop, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. In comparison, larger rival Home Depot Inc reported a 6.1% rise in same-store sales on Tuesday.
(This story corrects analyst estimate to 2.9% drop, not 1.4%, in paragraph 6)
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
