“What you look at, from a timing standpoint, is when do we finally bottom out — when do we hit the 
bottom from an unemployment standpoint, when does it peak so we can get back to growing jobs in a robust manner, and when do housing prices bottom out?”
While Lowe’s had previously banked on views that housing prices would bottom sometime during the first half of 2011, it now appears that timing might be “more to the middle of 2011,” Niblock said.
Improvements in both labor and housing markets will have to occur before the industry sees robust growth, he said. In the meantime, though, Lowe’s expects to continue gaining market share through focusing on products, such as appliances and flooring, and repair projects that are getting customers’ attention.
Shares of both Lowe’s and larger rival Home Depot Inc. (HD), which reports results Tuesday, each hit 52-week highs in April as homeowners this spring started to open their wallets for small renovation projects. Since then, though, shares have fallen sharply as worries mount that the U.S. economic recovery is slowing, which could lead to reduced consumer spending, and Lowe’s shares heading into Monday’s report were off 16% so far for the year.
For more: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100816-708542.html
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