Lowe's (LOW) Q1 FY2026: Revenue Jumps 10% but Acquisitions Lose $32M
Lowe's revenue rose 10.3% to $23.08 billion, but that number says almost nothing about the home improvement cycle — $1.75 billion of the $2.15 billion increase, or 82%, came from two businesses the company bought in 2025 rather than from its stores. Strip them out and the retail chain grew 1.9%, on comparable sales of just 0.6%. The more revealing disclosure sits in the new segment table: the acquired units generated a $32 million operating loss on $1.75 billion of sales, while the core retail segment quietly expanded its operating margin 21 basis points to 12.13%. On a full-year basis, fiscal 2025 revenue of $86.29 billion — a figure from the company's annual filings, not this quarterly report — remains 11.1% below the fiscal 2022 peak of $97.06 billion. Roughly three years on, the housing cycle has still not recovered, and the company has now spent $10.1 billion buying its way into the professional channel while it waits for that turn.
(This report covers the quarter ended May 1, 2026 — the first quarter of fiscal 2026 — as filed on Form 10-Q dated May 28, 2026. All figures are from that filing unless otherwise noted.)
1. Consolidated Balance Sheet
1-1. Principal Asset Movements
| Item | Jan 30, 2026 ($M) | May 1, 2026 ($M) | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and cash equivalents | 982 | 786 | -20.0 |
| Receivables – net | 1,090 | 1,151 | +5.6 |
| Merchandise inventory – net | 17,300 | 18,447 | +6.6 |
| Property, less accumulated depreciation | 18,362 | 18,254 | -0.6 |
| Goodwill | 3,945 | 3,945 | 0.0 |
| Intangible assets – net | 5,908 | 5,807 | -1.7 |
| Total assets | 54,144 | 54,941 | +1.5 |
The year-over-year comparison is where the transformation shows. Goodwill went from $311 million a year ago to $3,945 million, and net intangibles from $274 million to $5,807 million. Together they now represent $9.75 billion, or 17.7% of total assets, against roughly 1% a year earlier. The inventory build of $1,147 million since year-end is ordinary spring seasonality, and property was essentially flat — this balance sheet grew through acquisition, not capital investment.
