Key Takeaways Morgan Stanley maintained "overweight" ratings for shares of both Lowe's Cos. and Home Depot after the companies shared results this week.Morgan Stanley's price targets suggest its analysts see a slightly greater upside in Lowe's stock,

Home improvement retailers saw mixed first quarter results this week: Home Depot (HD) reported a slight earnings miss while beating on revenue, Lowe's (LOW) beat earnings forecasts while its revenue came in line with Wall Street expectations.

Home improvement store Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) did something that its rival Home Depot didn’t do this quarter — it beat earnings estimates. Yet Lowe’s stock was still trading lower, down about 2%, as the retailer faces a challenging economic environment.

Lowe’s said it faces housing-market headwinds and near-term economic uncertainty, but kept its 2025 earnings projections in place.

The home improvement retailers reported customer service improvements and easier information gathering as access to the technology expanded.

Home Depot and Lowe’s are both about to report their financial results for the first quarter of the year. Those reports — out later this week — will give us some sense of how spendy homeowners were feeling in the first three months of the year, before much tariff-driven uncertainty had taken hold in this economy.

Major chains are fighting two battles at once: a financial battle to keep costs low in the face of new tariffs, and a political one to avoid the president's wrath.

Home Depot shares rose Tuesday morning after the home-improvement retailer's first-quarter sales came in better than expected and its CFO said the company plans to "generally maintain" its current price levels.

Home improvement retailer Lowe's posted a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter sales on Wednesday and said it plans to keep its pricing competitive, without ruling out the possibility of price hikes on some items due to tariffs.

Home Depot earnings are expected to show that consumers likely pushed off home renovation projects yet again this quarter.