Lowe's struggles against Home Depot

Click the chart to track shares of Lowe's.

As the housing market heats up, so is competition among home improvement retailers.

A day after Home Depot (HD) delivered earnings and revenue that were much better than forecasts and raised its guidance, Lowe's (LOW) reported a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit for the first-quarter on declining sales.

Lowe's CEO Robert Niblock blamed "cooler than normal temperatures and greater precipitation" for the soft sales figures. In contrast, Home Depot CEO Frank Blake said his company continued to "benefit from a recovering housing market" despite the fact that there was "less favorable weather" during the quarter.

The contrasting results gave traders on StockTwits plenty to chat about.

 LDrogen
$HD really took $LOW to school this quarter, completely divergent reports.

 silverjet2
$LOW needs to improve its shopping experience rather than blame the weather for its missed earnings report

That's a good point. It's not the first time Lowe's has underperformed Home Depot, so bad weather isn't the primary problem. Same-store sales, which measure sales at stores open at least a year and are a key gauge of health among retailers, have been weaker at Lowe's than they have been at Home Depot each quarter for the past several years.

 retail_guru
Lowe's is just plain lucky direct peer is Depot. $HD stellar performance keeps dragging $LOW stock up with it, despite some seriously bad Qs.

A lucky break indeed? Despite the lackluster performance, shares were of Lowe's rose 1% Wednesday, just behind Home Depot's 3% increase. Year-to-date, Home Depot shares of climbed almost 30%, while Lowe's shares are up a healthy 20%.

Related: The market doesn't lie. Housing recovery is real

In addition to the two home improvement retailers, Toll Brothers (TOL) was also in focus Wednesday after announcing strong results, thanks to accelerating demand for houses and higher home prices.

Shares of the luxury homebuilder jumped 7% Wednesday.

 timeday
$TOL rocking housing helping banks rip higher big hedge funds own the BANKS will rip higher $SPY

lamonicabuzz
Toll House Rally. Builder $TOL reports profits and revenue that beat forecasts. More good news for housing. $TOL up 4% pre-market.

Posted in: banks, earnings, hedge funds, home, home builder, Home Depot, housing, Lowe's, prices, rain, sales, Toll Brothers, weather

• The market doesn't lie: Housing recovery is real

  The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.

  If the housing market is really on the mend, that is undeniably a good sign for the broader economy and the stock market.

  Guess what? It's increasingly looking like the housing rebound is, to pull a MORE

  Paul R. La Monica - May 21, 2013 1:06 PM ET
  Posted in: bubble, earnings, economy, Home Depot, homebuilders, housing, recovery, stocks

• The 'dumb' money is not so dumb

  By Lee Munson

  There is a feeling out there by some in the financial media that small-time investors are getting back into the stock market at the worst possible time. They -- or 'them' -- think this is entirely predictable and repeatable mistake.

  I get it: "them" are smart and 'you people' only make mistakes.

  Let's look at what's really going on.

  First things first: Who said this is the worst possible time to MORE

  Jan 29, 2013 12:46 PM ET
  Posted in: corporate profits, Fed, federal reserve, home, housing, investing, portfolio, profits, QE3, rally, stock

• Bank stocks keep surging

  Bank stocks have been on a tear in 2012. Monday was no different, as shares of big banks pushed the broader market higher.

  Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) all climbed more than 2%, while Wells Fargo (WFC) rallied more than 3%. AIG (AIG) shares were up after the company said it plans to sell its stake in AIA Group, a Hong Kong-based life insurance MORE

  Hibah Yousuf - Dec 17, 2012 12:59 PM ET
  Posted in: AIG, Bank of America, bank stocks, banks, financials, fiscal cliff, Goldman Sachs, housing, Morgan Stanley, Wall Street, Wells Fargo

• Dimon: Solve fiscal cliff, U.S. economy will soar

  JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon says the U.S. economy is poised to boom if Washington lawmakers can strike a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.

  But of course, that's a really big "if."

  "I don't know the odds," said Dimon, speaking at a conference Wednesday hosted by The New York Times' Dealbook. "We could go off the fiscal cliff, and it may not be as big of a deal as people MORE

  Hibah Yousuf - Dec 12, 2012 10:19 AM ET
  Posted in: economy, entitlement, fiscal cliff, GDP, housing, jamie dimon, jobs, JPMorgan Chase, revenue, spending, taxes, unemployment rate

• Lowe's earnings, stock keep improving

  Lowe's (LOW) impressed investors with third quarter results Monday that showed the home improvement retailer is following its own slogan to "never stop improving."

  Third quarter profits jumped 76% from a year ago. Investors, in turn, pushed the stock up nearly 7% Monday. That had some traders on StockTwits excited.

  elliottrexler: $LOW. Is an increase in same store sales oversees an indication of what's to come? #Lowes Beats estimates

  Still it's unclear MORE

  Maureen Farrell - Nov 19, 2012 12:35 PM ET
  Posted in: Home Depot, housing, housing market, Lowe's

• Good housing news is bad for housing stocks

  The housing market has hit bottom. Problem is, investors already know that.

  Two honebuilders reported decent, albeit not spectacular, results Monday morning. D.R. Horton (DHI) posted a profit that beat forecasts. But revenues missed estimates. Meanwhile, Beazer Homes (BZH) reported revenue that exceeded expectations. But its quarterly loss was higher than what analysts were predicting.

  Both stocks fell on the news. Beazer got hit particularly hard though, plunging nearly 14% compared to MORE

  Paul R. La Monica - Nov 12, 2012 11:49 AM ET
  Posted in: Beazer Homes, DR Horton, homebuilders, housing

• Economy IS improving. Don't mess it up, Congress!

  The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and Abbott Laboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.

  The U.S. economy has been slogging along at a sluggish pace for several years. I've been referring to the post-Great Recession period as the barbecue recovery since 2010. It's been low and slow.

  But even conspiracy theorists MORE

  Paul R. La Monica - Oct 17, 2012 12:41 PM ET
  Posted in: economy, fiscal cliff, housing, inflation, retail sales

• Wells Fargo stock dips as revenue falls short

  Wells Fargo posted a record profit of $4.9 billion for the third quarter as mortgage lending picked up, but weaker-than-expected revenue left investors disappointed.

  The nation's largest mortgage lender said it originated $139 billion of mortgages during the third quarter, up 6% from a year earlier, as record low interest rates drove homeowners to refinance. But the  low rates also weighed on the interest income that Wells Fargo earns on its loans and MORE

  Hibah Yousuf - Oct 12, 2012 5:40 PM ET
  Posted in: banks, earnigns, earnings, housing, JPMorgan Chase, loans, mortgage rates, profit, revenue, stocks, Wells Fargo

• Housing IPO draws strong demand

  Investors are making a bold gamble that the housing rebound will be steep and swift with the initial public offering of Realogy.

  Realogy, which owns Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran and Sotheby's International Realty, raised more than $1 billion through its initial public offering that priced Wednesday night at $27 a share -- the high end of its estimated range. It's the third-largest IPO of the year behind Facebook (FB) and MORE

  Maureen Farrell - Oct 11, 2012 11:54 AM ET
  Posted in: Apollo Global Management, Century21, corocoran, FaceBook, housing, initial public offering, IPO, private equity, Realogy, Shutterstock