Lowe's beats on quarterly earnings, buys home pros business for $8.8 billion

In this articleLOW your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTAn exterior view of a Lowe's imvement store in Selinsgrove.Paul Weaver | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesLowe's beat Wall Street's earning expectations on Wednesday as demand for jects picked up during the quarter, but owners' appetite for bigger jects remained weak.The retailer also announced its effort to attract more from fessionals

It said on Wednesday that it has struck a deal to acquire Foundation Building Materials, a distributor of drywall, insulation and other interior building ducts for large residential and commercial fessionals, for $8.8 billion. imvement demand has been weaker as higher borrowing costs and mortgage rates keep some owners and potential buyers on the sidelines

To overcome those slower sales, Lowe's has looked to fessionals — a steadier and more lucrative customer — to drive sales.It has made two -focused acquisitions in recent months: Artisan Design Group, a company that vides design services and installation of flooring, cabinets and countertops for builders and perty managers, and Foundation Building Materials, which it announced on Wednesday.On the company's earnings call, CEO Marvin Ellison said there's a "healthy pipeline of demand for imvement and new construction ahead" because of the country's aging housing stock, gains in owner equity and "pent-up demand from delayed jects."He said the company's investments and its two acquisitions "will uniquely position us to accelerate sales growth when the market turns."s rose nearly 3% in early trading.Here's what the company reported for the fiscal second quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:Earnings per : $4.33 vs. $4.24 expectedRevenue: $23.96 billion vs. $23.96 billion expectedIn the fiscal second quarter, Ellison said the imvement retailer saw "solid performance" in both the do-it-yourself and the fessional sides of its .In the three-month period that Aug. 1, Lowe's net income rose to $2.4 billion, or $4.27 per , from $2.38 billion, or $4.17 per , in the year-ago period

Revenue increased from $23.59 billion in the year-ago quarter.Comparable sales rose 1.1% in the quarter.However, CFO Brandon Sink said Lowe's strategy to grow online sales and sales, rather than a better imvement backdrop, will move the needle this year."Our expectations for a roughly flat imvement market and the performance of our core remain unchanged," he said.Lowe's revised its full-year outlook to reflect the acquisition of Artisan Design Group.For the full year, Lowe's said it expects total sales of $84.5 billion to $85.5 billion, an increase from its previous range of $83.5 billion to $84.5 billion

Depot also has bulked up its with acquisitions

Earlier this summer, it announced it was buying GMS, a building ducts distributor, for $4.3 billion.Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Lowe's revenue for the quarter.