Home Depot  reported first quarter earnings that came in below analysts’ expectations.The home improvement chain also withdrew its  2020 profit guidance. Home Depot’s earnings for the three months ending in on May 3 fell -8.4% year-over-year to $2.08 per share, falling behind the Street consensus forecast of $2.27 per share. Revenue, however, increased  +7.3% from the year-ago quarter to $28.3 billion, exceeding analysts' estimate of  $27.53 billion. Amid coronavirus crisis, Home Depot withdrew its full-year 2020 profit guidance (It had earlier projected comparable sales increase between 3.5% and 4.% and earnings of $10.45 per share.

 Opening hours would remain unchanged. According to the company, the adjusted hours will allow the staff more time to restock, and also do the necessary cleaning to combat the coronavirus risks. From this week, Home Depot will offer all hourly full-time workers an additional 80 hours of paid sick or personal time.Part-time hourly workers will receive an additional 40 hours of paid sick or personal leave. If an employee contracts Covid-19 or is advised to self-quarantine due to exposure, the employee will continue to be paid during time off.  "Our customers rely on us for urgent repairs, products, and materials, and we've always been committed to serving them during times of crisis and natural disaster," said Craig Menear, chairman, president and chief executive, in a statement.   

Lowe's Cos. has plans to add more than 53,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers across its U.S. stores for spring. The home-improvement retail chain announced on Thursday that its stores in Florida, Southern California, Hawaii, and parts of Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Texas, Alabama and Georgia, will conduct the first walk-in recruitment events, on Jan. 8.Full-time and part-time year-round roles include department supervisors, cashiers, stockers, sales specialists, customer-service associates and merchandise-service associates. Jennifer Weber, Lowe's executive vice president for human resources, said in a statement, "Spring is the busiest season for home-improvement projects and a great time to launch a new career at Lowe's".

Home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE: HD) reported earnings on November 19.Personally, I think the selloff is overdone and is providing investors with an opportunity at this time. Home Depot has seen its earnings grow by 21% per year over the last three years and earnings were up 1% in the third quarter.

Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is scheduled to report earnings before the open this Thursday, November 14 and that will kick off a stretch of big earnings reports from various retailers over a short period of time.Over the course of five trading days we will get reports from Walmart, Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Kohls (NYSE: KSS), TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX), Lowes (NYSE: LOW), and Target (NYSE: TGT). The six stocks listed are from different segments of the retail industry, but we see in the table below that there are some really good fundamental and technical statistics for the group as a whole.

Shares of Lowe's got a rating upgrade from a Credit Suisse analyst, who also raised the price target on the stock. Credit Suisse analyst Seth Sigman increased his rating on the home improvement retail chain’s shares  to outperform from neutral.Under Ellison’s leadership, Lowe’s has shuttered more than 40 underperforming stores, and retrenched thousands of assembly jobs at stores that involved putting together grills and patio furniture, choosing to contract instead with third party vendors.

In the case of home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE: HD), expectations must not have been too high.The stock gained 4.65% on the day while the overall market was lower. From a fundamental perspective, Home Depot has been pretty solid over the last few years.

Home renovation and improvement store Lowe’s has cut its full-year profit forecast after reporting disappointing first-quarter earnings, in part, due to cost increases. “Because of ... the transition of our merchandising team, we literally had no visibility to those cost increases until the inventory that was increased in cost hit the P&L,” Ellison said on a post-earnings call with analysts.  "We are doubling our efforts, making sure we limit the number of surprises that will get us in the future,” he said.  Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.22 per share in the three months ended May 3, missing analysts’ average estimate of $1.33, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Overall, net sales rose 2.1% to $17.74 billion, beating expectations of $17.66 billion. 

The home improvement retail giant also lowered its projection on  full-year earnings. Earnings for the three months ending in April came in at $1.22 per share, weaker than the Street consensus expectations of $1.33 per share.They were, however, +2.5% higher from the year-ago period. The company's total revenue increased +2.2% year-over-year to $17.7 billion in the quarter, edging past analysts' estimates of $17.48 billion.

In an ever-changing retail landscape, home improvement giant Lowe’s Companies (LOW) managed to deliver impressive Q4 result that saw its sales grow to $15.6 billion, a 1% y-o-y increase, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rising to $0.80, an 8.1% y-o-y increase.However, this is not a definitive success as the company still has to figure out how to stay relevant in the changing demand landscape. CEO Marvin Ellison has identified three key areas that must be improved for an overall success: taking care of the Pros, taking care of the digital sales, and finally taking care of delivery. In the retail industry, Pro customers are defined as those in the construction trades or the maintenance, repair, and operations industry.

It is a random round number that doesn’t really represent a pertinent time period. When it comes to weekly charts I like to look at 13-week, 52-week, and 104-week moving averages.There has only been one other instance in the last five years where both of these oscillators were in overbought territory at the same time and that was in October 2016. If the stock should drop below the 104-week moving average, it would be a very bad sign for it.

That’s higher than analysts’ expectation of $5.90, according to FactSet data (as reported by CNBC). Lowe’s is apparently taking several steps towards uplifting its profitability.Also, during a meeting with investors, CEO Marvin Ellison said the company has to "get back to basics" and focus on fundamental aspects like customer service and having the optimal merchandise in stock.

In yet another sign of retail struggle, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is shuttering 20 underperforming stores in the U.S and 31 in Canada. The home improvement chain will be completing the latest store closures before February 1, 2019, while trying to shift workers to other locations to help them still remain employed within the company if they choose to.Previously this year, Lowe’s  announced plans to close down all of its 99 Orchard Supply Hardware stores by end of the fiscal year, while also promising to give affected employees priority should they apply for other openings at the company and also to provide them job placement assistance and severance.