You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: Our momentum continued this quarter with comparable sales up 2.2% for the total company and 2.6% for the U.S. on top of over 30% growth last year.
on a two-year basis.
These outstanding results were driven by disciplined execution of our Total Home strategy, which allowed us to grow our share of wallet with both Pro and DIY customers as they gain confidence in Lowe's as the right destination for all of their project needs.
Our results also benefited from the great work by our merchants and supply chain teams who delivered competitive in-stock positions as we leverage our scale and carrier relationships to build inventory in key high-demand categories despite widespread disruption in the global supply chain.
Later in the call, Bill will discuss how we are navigating these unprecedented challenges in order to meet the continued strong demand for home improvement products.
After Labor Day, we saw an increase in DIY demand on the weekends as travel activity slowed down and children returned to school.
As a result, consumers were once again spending more time on projects in their homes.
Our elevated product assortment across our home decor offerings are resonating with consumers, resulting in particularly strong performance in appliances and flooring and contributing to an 11% increase in ticket over $500.
The strength in the higher-ticket categories reflects the continued consumer confidence in their homes as a sound investment and reflects the early success of our Total Home strategy.
We're also making significant progress growing Pro sales.
Pro once again outpaced DIY this quarter with Pro growth over 16% and over 43% on a two-year basis.
Over the past two years, we have relentlessly focused on improving the Pro offering in our stores and online with better service levels, deeper inventory quantities, a more intuitive store layout combined with an increased number of Pro national brands.
As we continue to drive higher Pro growth, we will increase sales productivity and operating leverage across our stores.
Later in the call, Bill will discuss our continuing efforts to expand our Pro product offerings, and then Joe will discuss how we continue to enhance our Pro shopping experience.
For the past 18 months, the home has increased in importance for all of us and perhaps especially for our baby boomer customers, who are increasingly interested in aging in place in their own homes.
We will offer affordable on-trend solutions like walk-in bathtub, grab bars, stairlifts, nonslip floors, pull-down cabinets and wheelchair ramps.
These solutions will help our customers modify their homes to fit their lifestyle needs.
Our collaboration with AARP will leverage their trusted brand and expertise as we help to educate our customers on how to approach aging in place.
We look forward to updating you on this very exciting initiative on future calls.
Now turning to Lowes.com.
Sales grew 25% on top of 106% growth in the third quarter of 2020, which represents a 9% sales penetration this quarter and a two-year comp of 158%.
As we modernize our omnichannel offering, we continue to gain traction with consumers who increasingly expect a seamless integrated shopping experience.
And as a further indication of the strides we've made in upgrading our dot-com platform, I'm pleased to announce that we have recently launched Lowe's' One Roof Media Network.
Our recognition for the first time in 17 years as Fortune's Most Admired Specialty Retailer and our inclusion as one of the top three marketers of the year in Ad Age's annual list means that we are well positioned to put our vendor partners at the forefront of the home lifestyle movement, helping them to capitalize on the shift in consumer behavior and sentiment toward the home.
We're excited to participate in this rapidly growing segment of digital advertising.
During the quarter, operating margin expanded approximately 240 basis points, leading to diluted earnings per share of $2.73, which is a 38% increase as compared to adjusted diluted earnings per share in the prior year.
Our improved operating performance continues to reflect the great execution of the team, as well as the benefits of our new price management system and the success of our perpetual productivity improvement initiatives, or PPI.
Dave and Joe will provide further details on both of these initiatives later in the call.
Now turning to our results in Canada.
While our performance lagged the U.S. as the Canadian business is more heavily weighted toward lumber, the Canadian leadership team remains focused on driving productivity by leveraging technology and processes that have already yielded strong results in the U.S. I'd now like to take a moment to discuss how we're expanding our fulfillment capabilities to meet the ever-increasing consumer demand for omnichannel shopping solutions.
This quarter, we completed the conversion of our second geographic area, the Ohio Valley region, to the market-based delivery model for big and bulky product, building on the success we gained in Florida.
As a reminder, in the market-based delivery model for big and bulky products flowing from our supply chain directly to consumers' homes, bypassing the stores all together.
This replaces the legacy store delivery model, which is highly inefficient and relies on each store to function as its own distribution node for these products.
This new delivery model is already driving higher sales in appliances, improved operating margins, reduced inventory and higher on-time delivery rates.
We plan to complete the rollout across the entire U.S. over the next 18-plus months.
Now let's talk about the importance of culture at Lowe's.
This year, we're celebrating our centennial with a $10 million investment in 100 communities across the country with projects ranging from renovating homeless shelters, updating youth centers and addressing unique needs for communities all around the country.
You can go to Lowes.com and see a full list of all 100 community projects.
This is our way of expressing our appreciation for our loyal customers and paying tribute to the company's long-standing commitment to community service.
In addition to commitment to the community, at Lowe's, we are proud of our relationship with and support of our military veterans and active-duty service members.
This is demonstrated by the $1 billion in discounts that we give our military families in our country this year through our Military Discount program.
Joe will discuss this program in more detail later in the call.
Before I close, I would like to extend my appreciation for our frontline associates.
Every week, I'm fortunate to travel across the country visiting stores, and I'm impressed by our associates' resilience and commitment to serving our customers and our communities.
And I'm very pleased to announce that for the seventh consecutive quarter, 100% of our stores earned a Winning Together profit-sharing bonus.
This $138 million payout to our frontline hourly associates is $70 million above the target payment level and reflects our appreciation for the hard work of our hourly workforce.
In the third quarter, U.S. comparable sales increased 2.6% and 33.7% on a two-year basis as our Total Home strategy continues to gain traction with our DIY and Pro customers.
This quarter, we drove positive comps across our home decor and hardlines divisions.
Comps in the building products divisions were down slightly as compared to the prior year as we cycled over a period of extremely high DIY demand for lumber.
Growth continued to be broad-based on a two-year basis with all product categories up more than 17% in that time frame.
In our home decor division, appliances and flooring delivered standout performances as we leveraged our competitive in-stock positions and updated product assortments to deliver strong positive comps on top of 20% growth in these categories last year.
Within appliances, sales of refrigerators, freezers and washers and dryers were particularly strong.
In flooring, vinyl flooring remains the top-performing category supported by innovative product like the WetProtect from Pergo, which is exclusive to Lowe's.
And we are pleased to see the new product offerings in our own allen + roth brand resonating with our customers, like the new allen + roth Lifestyle Performance rugs.
These rugs have the appearance of an indoor rug, but they are hose-washable, which makes them ideal for busy families with kids and pets.
Turning to our performance in our hardlines division.
Customers also invested in outdoor entertainment and upgrading their outdoor living spaces, as well as holiday decorations for their homes and yards, driving strong positive comps in seasonal and outdoor living and lawn and garden, resulting in two-year comps over 43% in each category.
We were also pleased with our performance in Halloween as we've sold through much earlier than in previous years.
And our early sales of holiday trim and tree are tracking ahead, as well as consumers are getting a jump start on their holiday decorating.
In addition to early sales of holiday, we have also seen customers purchasing cold weather products like snow throwers earlier than in years past.
With broader awareness of potential global supply chain disruptions, we are seeing many consumers looking to purchase products as soon as they are available in our stores.
In the quarter, we also leveraged our No.
1 position in outdoor power equipment to deliver over 20% growth in battery-operated outdoor power equipment.
Both our DIY and Pro customers are enjoying the zero-emission rechargeable products available in the EGO, Kobalt, CRAFTSMAN and Skill brands.
We continue to expand our brand and product assortment, building on the powerful lineup of brands that include John Deere, Honda, Husqvarna, Aaron's and CRAFTSMAN.
In building products, comps were down slightly due to a decline in DIY lumber sales despite double-digit comps in electrical and strong positive comps in rough plumbing and building materials.
We feel good about the traction that we are gaining with the Pro customer as we continue to build out our product assortments that are tailored to their needs.
This quarter, we completed the launch of the SPAX fastener program in our stores.
SPAX is the market leader in multi-material construction screws.
We also continue to build out our Pro power tool accessory program with new launches from Spyder and DEWALT. This quarter, Spyder will be launching their new TARANTULA circular saw blades, offering seven new options to tackle a wider variety of tough construction jobs, all of which are exclusive to Lowe's.
And DEWALT will be launching their new ELITE SERIES circular saw blades, which are designed to maximize productivity for heavy-duty projects, and these will also be exclusive to Lowe's.
These new products are strong additions to our Pro brand lineup, which includes great programs like Simpson Strong-Tie, DEWALT, Metabo, Bosch, Spyder, GRK, FastenMaster, ITW, Lufkin, Marshalltown, Estwing, Eaton, SharkBite and LESCO and the recent additions of FLEX, SPAX and Mansfield.
Now shifting to Lowes.com.
We delivered sales growth of 25% in the quarter and 158% on a two-year basis.
Following the launch of Lowe's virtual kitchen design and visual search in Q2, we enhanced our omnichannel customer experience with the introduction of our paint visualizer on Lowes.com in the third quarter.
We are continually working to remove friction from the buying process and to fully integrate the online and in-store shopping experience.
Before I close, I'd like to discuss how we're navigating the unprecedented disruptions across the global supply chain that are impacting the retail industry.
As one of the largest importers in the U.S., we are fortunate to be able to leverage our scale and carrier relationships to secure shipping and transportation capacity and work to minimize the impact of cost increases.
We're also taking a very proactive approach by ordering inventory earlier than the years past, including our seasonal buys for both 2021 and 2022.
This gives us more time to manage through any unforeseen delays in either the production or the distribution of our orders.
Once the product lands in the U.S., we are able to leverage our growing network of coastal holding facilities so that we can hold the product upstream from our regional distribution centers and bulk distribution centers until it's needed.
From there, we can quickly flow the product to the right areas of the country.
Looking ahead, we are ready to flex our seasonal pads to a variety of different winter and early spring offerings after we sell through our trim and tree product.
The investments that we made in the U.S. stores reset last year expanded our operating capabilities and has allowed us to respond rapidly to the changing consumer shopping habits, like the early season buying that we're seeing right now.
As Marvin mentioned, this quarter, 100% of our stores earned their Winning Together profit-sharing bonus, resulting in a payout of $138 million to our frontline hourly associates.
The current hiring environment remains competitive, and we continue to align labor to meet demand.
Our labor management system has allowed us to serve the needs of our customers while addressing the lifestyle demands of our associates.
Lowe's offers a unique opportunity for job seekers as we foster a culture that is geared toward associates' skill and career development.
During the quarter, we expanded Lowe's University leadership curriculum across all of our stores.
Lowe's U provides all associates with new learning and development opportunities in addition to the standard onboarding courses.
Our program provides small digestible lessons that improve their product and how-to knowledge and is tailored to the associate's role.
The additional training complements their existing knowledge and supports improved customer service and leadership development.
Lowe's University is available for all store associates via our smart mobile devices on the sales floor or in the newly created Lowe's U learning labs in our stores, and we continue to expand it into our contact centers, as well as our distribution centers.
In addition to competitive wages and benefits and rewarding career opportunities, Lowe's U will play a pivotal role in our efforts to retain an experienced and engaged workforce.
I'd also like to provide you with an update on our perpetual productivity improvement initiatives, which continue to drive payroll leverage through the quarter.
As a reminder, PPI is an ongoing process in a series of initiatives that scale over time instead of one large single project.
One example is the simplified interface that we introduced in the checkout area last year, which allowed us to accelerate the cashier training process and improve the customer experience.
We have begun introducing the simplified interface to other selling stations throughout the store, including appliances, kitchens and bath and millwork.
This new interface will replace the primitive green screen technology that is cumbersome and difficult to learn.
Associates are starting to use this intuitive modern platform for consultative selling.
With more time to focus on the customer, the associate is now better able to capture the entire project.
Lowe's homegrown self-checkout is another PPI initiative that will drive increased labor productivity as we scale it over time.
This new option, which was designed specifically for the home improvement shopper, is so much easier to use that we are already seeing higher customer adoption rates.
These two initiatives are fantastic examples of what PPI is all about: leveraging technology to reduce tasking and drive labor productivity while improving the associate and the customer experience.
Our Pro customers are expressing appreciation for our new in-store convenience features, including Pro trailer parking, free phone charging stations and air stations for refilling tires.
This helps them get in and out of our stores quickly with additional conveniences that cut down on the number of stops they need to make during the week.
Time is money for this busy customer, so we're focused on helping them maximize the time they spend on the job site.
We recently completed our inaugural Pro Pulse Survey, which provides great insight into what is on the Pro's mind and how they view their future business opportunities.
We are encouraged to learn more about their optimistic outlook and their strong job pipelines.
I look forward to updating you on future calls on our ongoing initiatives to grow share with this very important customer.
As a veteran, I'm particularly proud of the commitment to the 10% discount for active-duty service members and our veterans and their families every single day with no purchase limit.
And I also wanted to mention that we offered our first responders a Lowe's discount for the first time this quarter.
This recognition reflects our heartfelt appreciation for their commitment to serving others during the ongoing pandemic.
At Lowe's, we remain focused on improving the communities where our associates work and live, and there is no better way to do this than to support our first responders.
In Q3, we generated $1.9 billion in free cash flow, driven by better-than-expected operating results.
Capital expenditures totaled $410 million in the quarter as we invest in our strategic initiatives to drive the business and support long-term growth.
We returned $3.4 billion to our shareholders through a combination of both dividends, as well as share repurchases.
During the quarter, we paid $563 million in dividends at $0.80 per share.
Additionally, we repurchased 13.7 million shares for $2.9 billion and have over $10.7 billion remaining on our share repurchases authorization.
And today, I'm excited to announce that we are now planning to repurchase an incremental $3 billion of shares in Q4.
This will bring our total share repurchases to approximately $12 billion for the full year, a clear reflection of our commitment to driving long-term value for our shareholders.
Our balance sheet remains very healthy with $6.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents at quarter end.
Adjusted debt-to-EBITDAR stands at 2.14 times, well below our long-term stated target of 2.75 times.
Now I'd like to turn to the income statement.
In the quarter, we reported diluted earnings per share of $2.73, an increase of 38% compared to adjusted diluted earnings per share last year.
This increase was driven by better-than-expected sales growth, improved gross margin rate and SG&A leverage as a result of strong execution across our business.
My comments from this point forward will include approximations where applicable.
In the quarter, sales were $22.9 billion with a comparable sales increase of 2.2%.
Comparable average ticket increased 9.7% driven primarily by higher-ticket sales of appliances and flooring, as well as product inflation.
Keep in mind that commodity inflation did not have a material impact on comparable sales in Q3 as deflation in lumber was largely offset by inflation in other categories, including copper.
Year-to-date, commodity inflation had lifted total sales by approximately $2.1 billion and improved comp growth by 300 basis points.
In the quarter, comp transaction count declined 7.5% due to lower sales to DIY customers of smaller-ticket items, as well as lower DIY lumber unit sales.
In the quarter, we once again cycled over a period where consumer mobility was limited.
So many of our DIY customers were working on smaller home improvement projects.
Comp transactions increased 16.4% last year, which resulted in a two-year comp transaction increase of 7.7%.
We continue to gain momentum in our Total Home strategy as both Pro and DIY customers alike increasingly look to Lowe's for a one-stop solution to their project needs.
We delivered growth of over 16% in Pro, 25% on Lowes.com and positive comps across all home decor categories.
U.S. comp sales increased 2.6% in the quarter and was up 33.7% on a two-year basis.
monthly comp sales were down 0.4% in August, up 1.1% in September and up 7.7% in October.
Trends improved as we moved through the quarter with stronger weekend traffic post Labor Day.
As Bill mentioned, we are seeing some indications of early seasonal buying, consistent with broader retail trends.
comp growth on a two-year basis.
From 2019 to '21, August sales increased 28.4%, September increased 33.3% and October increased 40%.
U.S. comp transaction count improved each month of the quarter and in October, up double digits on a two-year basis.
Gross margin was 33.1% of sales in the third quarter, up 38 basis points from last year.
Product margin rate declined 25 basis points.
Lumber margins were pressured, particularly toward the beginning of the quarter as we sold through the higher-cost inventory layers after the steep drop in lumber prices in early July.
These pressures were largely mitigated by data-driven pricing and product cost management strategies across many other product categories.
Gross margins also benefited from five basis points of favorable product mix due to a lower percentage of lumber sales versus the third quarter of last year.
In addition, higher credit revenue benefited margins by 60 basis points, while improved shrink contributed 20 basis points of benefits this quarter.
These benefits were partially offset by 30 basis points of increased supply chain costs due to higher importation and transportation costs, as well as the expansion of our omnichannel capabilities.
We are leveraging our scale and our carrier relationships to minimize the impacts of these higher distribution costs.
However, we are not immune to these rising costs, and we expect that we will continue to absorb higher cost in our distribution network going forward.
SG&A at 19.1% of sales levered 230 basis points versus LY due to better-than-expected sales and disciplined expense management.
We incurred $45 million of COVID-related expenses in the quarter, as compared to $290 million of COVID-related expenses last year.
The $245 million reduction in these expenses generated 110 basis points of SG&A leverage.
Additionally, we incurred $100 million of expenses related to the U.S. stores reset in the third quarter of last year.
As we did not incur any material expense related to this project this year, this generated 50 basis points of SG&A leverage compared to LY.
And finally, we've generated approximately 50 basis points of favorable SG&A leverage from our PPI initiatives.
We are very pleased with our operating income performance as we are driving solid growth in operating profits while significantly expanding operating margin rate.
For the quarter, operating profit was $2.8 billion, adding $600 million or a 28% increase over last year.
Operating margin of 12.2% of sales for the quarter increased approximately 240 basis points over LY driven by improved SG&A leverage and higher gross margin rate.
The effective tax rate was 26.1%.
This is above the prior year rate where there was a timing shift that benefited Q3 at the expense of Q4.
At the end of the quarter, inventory was $16.7 billion, which is $1 billion higher than the third quarter of 2020 when our in-stock positions were pressured due to strong consumer demand and COVID-related supply constraints.
Inflation did not have a material impact on inventory levels as deflation in lumber was largely offset by inflation in other categories, including copper.
Our push to land spring product earlier than normal has increased our inventory position modestly, and this approach also limits our ability to significantly improve inventory turns in the near term.
However, as both Marvin and Bill have indicated, our relatively strong in-stock positions create a competitive advantage in the current environment given the ongoing global supply chain constraints.
Now before I close, I'd like to comment on our current trends and our improved 2021 financial outlook.
We are seeing continued momentum in our business as reflected in better-than-expected results.
Month-to-date, November U.S. comparable sales trends are materially consistent with October's performance level on a two-year basis as we continue to see early holiday spending trends.
Our improved expectations for 2021 include sales of approximately $95 billion for the year, representing two-year comparable sales growth of approximately 33%.
This compares to our prior expectations of approximately $92 billion of sales, which represents approximately 30% comparable sales growth on a two-year basis.
We continue to expect gross margin rate to be up slightly versus 2020 levels.
With higher projected sales levels and our productivity efforts taking hold, we are raising our outlook for operating income margin to 12.4% from 12.2% for the full year.
We expect capital expenditures of up to $2 billion for the year.
And as I mentioned earlier, we're now planning to return excess capital to shareholders via an additional $3 billion in share repurchases in Q4.
This will bring our total share repurchases to approximately $12 billion for the full year, which is higher than our original expectations of $9 billion due to better-than-anticipated performance.
In closing, we are operating ahead of expectations, expect to benefit from the secular tailwinds over the next several years.
I am confident that the combination of our strong operating results and our shareholder-focused capital allocation strategies will continue to drive meaningful long-term shareholder value.
And as Kate announced earlier, we look forward to providing you with our 2022 financial outlook on December 15.

user
compname reports q3 earnings per share $2.73.
q3 earnings per share $2.73.
q3 sales $22.9 billion versus $22.3 billion.
q3 earnings per share $2.73 excluding items.
qtrly comparable sales increased 2.2%.
sees fy 2021 revenue of about $95 billion, representing approximately 33% comparable sales growth on a two-year basis.
qtrly comparable sales for u.s. home improvement business increased 2.6%.
for fiscal 2021, company expects capital expenditures of up to $2 billion.

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