A struggling economy and continued turmoil in the housing market drove the nation's second-biggest home-improvement retailer to report a nearly 18 percent drop in first-quarter earnings from a year earlier and lower its guidance for the year on Monday.

Lowe's said net profit in the period ended May 2 fell 17.9 percent, to $607 million, or 41 cents per share. Sales slipped to $12.0 billion from $12.2 billion, matching analysts' estimates.

''While not a terrible report, we do not necessarily see this result as a positive catalyst,'' wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Baker in a client note. ''We do not believe investors were looking for much improvement, but we have yet to see trends get less worse.''

Lowe's and Home Depot have seen profits slide over the past year as a slump in the housing industry continues.

Declining soup sales and higher prices for ingredients contributed to a difficult quarter for the company, even though a gain on the sale of its Godiva Chocolatier brand sweetened its bottom line. Its shares fell more than 6 percent Monday Campbell reiterated its expectations of profit growth of 5 percent to 7 percent for the fiscal year.

The food company earned $532 million, or $1.40 per share, in the three months ended April 27. That was up from $217 million, or 55 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $1.88 billion from $1.75 billion.

''We clearly have to step up our game in condensed soup,'' said President and CEO Douglas Conant, who came to Campbell more than seven years ago and is credited with turning around long-eroding sales of the company's iconic condensed soups.

Conant said that higher prices hurt sales. While some sales slippage was expected, he said, the company miscalculated how much it would be.