(Lowe) Shares of Lowe fell 3.7% in premarket on Wednesday before recovering after guiding sales of $94 billion to $97 billion in FY22, which missed the expected $97.62 billion.
The dampened FY22 outlook reflected the fall in the pandemic-driven demand, with the retailer expecting its same-store sales to decline up to 3%. The company also expects the home improvement sector to fall moderately.
The dampened outlook comes even as Lowe reported total sales of $95 billion in FY21, an increase of 33% on a two-year basis.
The gross margin, which rose slightly to 33.10% in FY21 from the prior year, is expected to remain flat in 2022.
Operating margin is expected in the range of 12.5% to 12.8% in FY22, a marginal increase from 12.4% in FY21.
Return on invested capital is expected to rise from 33% in FY21 to 35% next year, with the diluted earnings per share at $12.25 to $13.00.
Lowe expects to repurchase $12 billion shares in FY22, the same as the number of buybacks in FY21.
LOW: NYSE is currently up +0.47%.
