Home Depot Expected to Report Loss, Similar to Lowe's and Target

Lowe's (NYSE:LOW), the nation's No. 2 home improvement chain earned $488 million, or 33 cents per share during the three months ending Oct. 31 - down from $643 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue at Lowe's climbed 1.4 percent to $11.73 billion, from $11.57 billion during the same period last year. Same-store sales - an important retail industry metric - lowered 5.9 percent.

"The third quarter continued what has been a very difficult period for our industry as many exterior factors weighed on home improvement sales," Lowe's Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Niblock said during a conference call.

Lowe's larger rival, Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), is expected to release similar news when it reports results for the third quarter on Tuesday.

Home Depot shares were recently down 1.27 percent at $20.28 ahead of the closing bell.

Target Corp (NYSE: TGT) reported a nearly 24 percent dip in profit as an economic downturn caused the retailer to cut costs and make payments on its credit cards.