Lowe's beats earnings in Q3, but I'm not buying

Well, seems like Lowe's Companies, Ic. (NYSE: LOW) did much better than expected during the third quarter. And I was apparently too pessimistic in my earnings preview. The call was for $0.28 per share. The home-improvement retailer beat expectations by $0.05 per share, according to Thomson Reuters estimates. Hey, I tip my hat to management.

But I wouldn't buy the stock just now (unless, of course, you have a very long-term horizon, are willing to ride out the bear market, and intend on improving your cost basis through dollar-cost-averaging). My reasoning is simple: total sales increased only 1.4%, and same-store sales decreased nearly 6%. It's that bad drop in the comps that really has me worried. All retailers are suffering through lousy comps right now, and I think sales are destined to remain weak.

Yet, the market seems to be saying something else to me. Lowe's saw its shares rise over 4% on Monday, on good volume, and on a bad day for the major indexes, too. Is the market saying that all the bad news is priced in? You know, I understand the earnings game and how the market loves it when a business beats estimates, and certainly a $0.05 beat is cool, but I'm not sure that better prices are ahead for those who follow Lowe's and its stock. Consumers just won't be spending enough to justify the buying seen in Lowe's equity yesterday.