Lowe's Cos. Net Income Climbs 17%

NEW YORK -- Lowe's Cos. said Monday its third-quarter earnings rose 17% to $404 million, or 29 cents from $344 million, or 23 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time charges of 2 cents a share, Lowe's earned 31 cents a share in the latest period. Sales rose 1.9% to $11.6 billion. Wall Street analysts expected earnings of 30 cents a share and revenue of $11.76 billion, according to a survey of analysts by FactSet Research. Looking ahead at the fourth quarter, the Mooresville, N.C. home-products retailer said it expects earnings of 16 cents to 19 cents