By Allison Prang

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (February 28, 2019).

Lowe's Companies Inc. reported a loss for the fourth quarter as the company recorded $1.6 billion in charges before tax.

The company reported a net loss of $824 million, compared with a profit of $554 million for the comparable quarter a year prior. The company said it had a net loss of $1.03 a share, compared with a profit of 67 cents a share. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting a profit of 35 cents a share.

The company's results included $1.6 billion in charges before tax. Lowe's said $952 million of that was from a goodwill impairment charge it took related to its operations in Canada.

Lowe's said adjusted earnings were 80 cents share, up from 74 cents a share. Analysts were expecting 79 cents a share.

Net sales rose 1% to $15.65 billion. Analysts were expecting $15.74 billion.

Comparable sales rose 1.7%. Analysts polled by Consensus Metrix were expecting them to rise 1.9%.

Chief Executive Marvin Ellison said in prepared remarks that "U.S. macroeconomic fundamentals remain sound for 2019" but said, "we anticipate continued weakness in the Canadian housing market in the near term."

Lowe's said it expects comparable sales to increase by about 3% in the 2019 fiscal year. The company expects about a 2% increase in total sales.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 28, 2019 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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