lowe's
Customers are seen at a Lowe's in Burbank, California. Reuters

Lowe's, the second-largest home improvement retailer, raised its full-year profit and sales outlook Wednesday as homeowners spend more on remodeling. The company reported higher-than-expected third-quarter 2014 earnings of $585 million or 59 cents a share, up 20.3 percent from the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose 5.3 percent, to $13.7 billion, in the August-to-October 2014 period, just behind its competitor Home Depot. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 58 cents a share on $13.55 billion in revenue. Same-store sales rose 5.1 percent.

The retail sector overall, excluding cars, reported 3.7 percent sales growth in October, with many department stores struggling to maintain store traffic. Building material sales grew 5.1 percent over the same time period. Employment gains over the period fueled pent-up demand for home repairs and upgrades.

Lowe's forecasts a full-year same-store sales increase of 3.5 to 4 percent, up from its previous forecast of 3.5 percent.

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