LOW – Solid 1Q; inflection remains elusive but bias is to the upside; remain buyers

Research evidence excerpt

LOW – Solid 1Q; inflection remains elusive but bias is to the upside; remain buyers

Truist Securities

Equity Research Report May 20, 2026

CONSUMER: Hardlines/Broadlines Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW)

LOW – Solid 1Q; inflection remains elusive but bias is to the upside; Scot Ciccarelli, CFA

212-319-3920 remain buyers

Scot.Ciccarelli@truist.com

Joshua Young, CFA Net/net – 1Q was solid/in-line and the co reiterated the full year guide. However, 2Q earnings

212-590-0924 will come under some pressure due to expense timing issues. While shares are down over

Joshua.Young2@truist.com 20% in the last ~3 mos on macro/rising rate concerns, sales remain stable and margins

are well controlled. A major inflection point for the industry remains elusive, but with home

Shervin Zand investment levels (measured by PFRI/GDP) reaching what has historically been trough

212-590-0987 levels (5 of the last 6 housing downturns have bottomed and bounced hard from right around

Shervin.Zand@truist.com current levels) we believe the bias remains to the upside. PT to $255 from $280.

Joseph Civello Comps ~in-line, but a touch below some investor expectations; inflection remains 212-590-0968

Joseph.Civello@truist.com elusive but bias likely to the upside – Lowe’s reported 1Q comps of 0.6% vs. our 0.5%E

and our Truist Card Reads for the “upper end of 0%-1%”, including ticket growth of 1.5%,

offset by a (0.9%) decline in traffic. Sales got off to a slow start in February (lack of storms in

4Q and cold/wet winter weather in the month), down (1.4%), before accelerating in March to

Stock Rating BUY +2.1%, with another positive result in April of +0.5%. Interestingly, 9 of 13 categories (70%)

Unchanged posted positive comps, even though the total comp was only +60bps. We think this suggests