Lowe's earnings beat expectations

Lowe's (LOW) delivered quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations on Wednesday, helped by a strong recovery in the U.S. housing market.

The U.S. housing recovery has been gaining traction, with home builder sentiment hitting decade highs in July, August and September, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

The company posted third-quarter earnings of 80 cents per share, up from 59 cents in the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose to $14.36 billion from $13.68 billion a year earlier

Analysts expected earnings of 78 cents per share on revenue of $14.34 billion, according to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters.

Lowe's same-store sales rose 4.6 percent in the third quarter ended Oct. 30, beating the 4.1 percent growth analysts on average had expected, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

Shares of Lowe's rose in premarket trading immediately following the announcement. (Get the latest quote here.) (LOW)

Earlier this week, rival Home Depot (HD) delivered quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations, helped by strong demand from professional contractors and builders.

The report comes after Lowe's missed analyst expectations in the previous quarter, as a shift toward bigger ticket items may have caused a slight weakness in gross margins. Still, shares of the home improvement retailer are up more than 23 percent over the past year.

But Lowe's still lags Home Depot, which has seen shares rise about 28 percent over the same period.

— CNBC's Fred Imbert and Reem Nasr, and Reuters contributed to this report.