Home improvement retailer Lowe's reported today that second-quarter profits increased 10 percent, but its forecast the rest of the year was cautious.

The company, based in Mooresville, posted earnings of $832 million, or 58 cents per share, for the period ended July 30, compared to $759 million, or 51 cents per share, a year ago. Sales for the quarter climbed 3.7 percent to $14.4 billion, below the company’s previous projection of 5 to 7 percent revenue growth.

The economy was slightly softer than executives had expected and won’t return to “robust growth” until unemployment begins to recede and housing prices bottom out nationally, Lowe’s chief executive Robert Niblock said in an interview with our sister publication, the Charlotte Observer.

To read more of that interview go here.

The company's Atlanta-based rival, Home Depot, reports its financial results Tuesday morning.

Raleigh-based Stock Building Supply has sold most of its commercial door and hardware division to a Charlotte company as it continues to shed assets in order to focus on the residential market.

The division, SBS Commercial Door & Hardware, was bought by The Cook & Boardman Group. Included in the sale are SBS divisions in North Carolina, Florida, Utah, Idaho, Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Stock retained its commercial door and hardware operations in New Mexico and California.

"The commercial door unit is a strong business but is not core to our strategy," said Joe Appelmann, Stock's CEO, in a release. "The sale allows Stock to intensify its focus on the residential sector."

Stock's business -- selling windows, doors, roofing and other housing material -- largely dried up when the housing market collapsed.

The company went through a bankruptcy restructuring last year, a process that resulted in Stock exiting a number of markets and shedding thousands of jobs.