Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call November 21, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Kate Pearlman - VP, IR

Marvin Ellison - Chairman & CEO

William Boltz - EVP, Merchandising

Joseph McFarland - EVP, Stores

Brandon Sink - EVP & CFO

Conference Call Participants

Steven Forbes - Guggenheim Securities

Peter Benedict - Baird

Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley

Christopher Horvers - J.P. Morgan

Seth Sigman - Barclays

Michael Lasser - UBS

Brian Nagel - Oppenheimer

Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Lowe's Companies' Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Rob, and I'll be your operator for today's call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I will now turn the call over to Kate Pearlman, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer.

Kate Pearlman

Thank you, and good morning. Here with me today are Marvin Ellison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Bill Boltz, our Executive Vice President, Merchandising; Joe McFarland, our Executive Vice President, Stores; and Brandon Sink, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

I would like to remind you that our notice regarding forward-looking statements is included in our press release this morning, which can be found on Lowe's Investor Relations website. During this call, we will be making comments that are forward-looking, including our expectations for fiscal 2023.

Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied as a result of various risks, uncertainties and important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors MD&A and other sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other SEC filings.

Additionally, we'll be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these items to U.S. GAAP can be found on the Quarterly Earnings section of our Investor Relations website.

Now, I'll turn the call over to Marvin.

Marvin Ellison

Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone. For the third quarter, comparable sales declined 7.4%. Our results were driven by a greater than expected pullback in DIY discretionary spending, especially in bigger ticket categories. While we've seen a more cautious consumer for some time now, this quarter, we saw some of these consumers increasingly prioritizing experiences over goods, spending on travel and entertainment.

As a reminder, at Lowe's, 75% of our revenue is driven by DIY customers and 25% by Pros while the broader market mix is roughly 50% DIY and 50% Pro. As a result, whenever the DIY customer becomes cautious, it disproportionately affects us and while we faced a softer DIY demand in the third quarter, I'm pleased that at the same time, we once again delivered positive sales comp in Pro.