Lowe’s, a leading home improvement retailer, released their second-quarter report on Monday. The numbers fell below what investors were expecting and resulted in the company’s shares taking a beating on the stock market.
Last year in the second quarter, Lowe’s posted a profit of $939 million and revenue of $14.51 billion. This year, profit was down to $759 million and revenue was down to $13.84 billion. Those number represent a drop of $180 million in profit and $670 in revenue.
Robert A. Niblock, the CEO of Lowe’s, gave a number of different reasons for the drop in profit and revenue.
Said Niblock: “Wavering …read more

The national housing crisis continues to haunt those companies in the housing industry. Masco, a Fortune 500 company that sells products for home construction and home improvement, lost more than $80 million in the first quarter of 2009. In 2008, Masco posted a $14 million profit in the first quarter of the year, which means that company experience a swing of almost $100 million.
The losses by Masco were more than most experts predicted. In fact, one national poll had predicted about a $40 million loss. Masco’s revenue dipped more than 30% internationally and almost 25% domestically.
The number of homes being …read more