S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, November 14, 2011. Lowe’s Companies is a home improvement retailer offering products to homeowners, renters, and commercial business customers.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of 33 cents per share, a rise of 6.5% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 35 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at 33 cents during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net income of $1.59 per share, a rise of 9.7% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: The company topped estimates last quarter after missing forecasts the quarter prior. In the second quarter, it reported profit of 68 cents per share against a mean estimate of net income of 67 cents per share. In the first quarter, it missed forecasts by 2 cents.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 0.9% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $11.7 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 11 analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and seven rating it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit fell 0.2% to $830 million (64 cents a share) from $832 million (58 cents a share) the year earlier, but exceeded analyst expectations. Revenue rose 1.3% to $14.54 billion from $14.36 billion.

Key Stats:

The company has seen net income fall in each of the last two quarters. Net income dropped 5.7% in the first quarter.

Revenue rose in the second quarter after seeing a drop the quarter before. In the first quarter, revenue fell 1.6%.

Competitors to Watch: The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDR), Lumber Liquidators Hldgs., Inc. (NYSE:LL), Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO), Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG (NYSE:HBM), PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM), Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL), D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI), KB Home (NYSE:KBH), Lennar Corp (NYSE:LEN), Beazer Homes (NYSE:BZH), Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW), Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD), Target (NYSE:TGT) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT).

Stock Price Performance: During September 13, 2011 to November 11, 2011, the stock price had risen $4.09 (21.5%) from $19.02 to $23.11. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between March 16, 2011 and March 24, 2011 when shares rose for seven-straight days, rising 4.9% (+$1.26) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 26, 2011 and August 8, 2011 when shares fell for 10-straight days, falling 18.2% (-$4.14) over that span. Shares are down $1.95 (-7.85%) year to date.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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