Taking market share: Lowe’s 2022 outlook

Lowe’s presented its priorities for 2022 with a focus on its “Total Home Strategy” aimed at taking market share, driving productivity, and providing an integrated omni-channel shopping experience.

"We are confident in the long-term growth prospects for the home improvement market, and that we are making the right investments to continue winning with both our Pro and DIY customers,” said Marvin R. Ellison, Lowe’s chairman, president and CEO.

“We also remain committed to driving sustainable shareholder value creation through a disciplined and highly effective capital allocation strategy," said Ellison.

Based on its confidence in the company’s continued growth trajectory and cash flow generation capabilities, the Board of Directors has authorized a new $13 billion common stock repurchase program.

This new repurchase program, the firm said, has no expiration date and adds to the previous program’s balance, which was $7.3 billion as of Dec. 14, 2021. The company now has total share repurchase authorization of approximately $20 billion.

“Next year we expect that our disciplined execution will drive productivity across the company, enabling us to deliver further operating margin expansion, robust cash flow generation and higher ROIC,” said David M. Denton, Lowe’s executive vice president and CFO.

“We look forward to increasing our long-term operating targets at our next analyst & investor conference in Dec. 2022, when we will provide the building blocks to our next operating margin milestone,” said Denton.

Lowe’s reiterated its outlook for operating results for the full year 2021 with total sales of approximately $95 billion, representing approximately 33% comparable sales growth on a two-year basis, the retailer said, and a gross margin rate of 33.10%, up slightly compared to prior year of 2020.