Lowe's Financial Ratios

Lowes is currently involved in all sorts of different initiatives in order to boost sales during this current economic down turn. The first thing the company focuses on is the mindset of the average consumer. Lowes has discovered through lots of research the people basically want five things: balance, control, value, simplicity, and to shop for everything in one trip. In order to accomplish these five things, Lowes has focused on improving its skills in the following three areas: merchandising strategy, merchandise selection, marketing and advertising, and offering higher value at lower prices in order

Home Depot’s corporate-level strategy is one of internal growth. This conclusion was reached based on the increased focus that Home Depot has placed on growing its existing online and traditional retail operations. Between 2016 and 2018, Home Depot is expected to invest approximately four billion dollars into improvements in its online and physical retail locations in order to make both work more synergistically and grow sales (Petro, 2016). Home Depot hopes that these investments will continue to increase sales at both its physical and digital retail locations, thereby growing the company without adding significant numbers of physical locations.

Home Depot is the fastest growing retailer in the U.S. by some accounts. It has a fascinating history of innovation and entrepreneurship. The company had some difficulties in the mid-2000s that some attribute to cultural clashes. However, during this period the company was able to take full advantage of the housing boom. Yet when the bubble burst, Home Depot was forced to claim substantial losses. Despite these loses Home Depot has weathered the storm fairly well and is in prime position to take advantage of an economic recovery; if it ever comes.

Established as the older company of the two, Lowe’s ranks forty-second as a Fortune 500 company. Established in 1946 as a small hardware business, Lowe’s has grown into a 40,000 product, global market enterprise that consist of 1,710 stores nationwide expanding into the countries of Canada, Mexico and Australia (Lowe's Internal, 2010) Home Depot, founded in 1978, is the fastest growing retailer in the United States. Ranked twenty-ninth as a Fortune 500 company, Home Depot continues to remain the number one do-it-yourself retail store in America. These two companies may sell products of the same nature, but comparing their Code of Ethics is their way of setting themselves apart. (Home Depot Internal, 2009)

Lowe’s Company has been in business for over 60 years. The company is the second largest home improvement retailer in the world and employs more than 215,000 employees. The company’s home base is Mooresville, North Carolina. Standard & Poor ranks Lowe’s as #48 . Presently, Lowe’s stock, which is identified on the New York Stock Exchange as LOW, is selling for right under $20 a share. This price has been consistent and is comparable to their biggest competitor Home Depot, Inc whose stock has remained steady at $23.

* If we surmise that the company’s specialist’s predictions of 4% on market growth along with renewing current and or adding more customer contracts then the profits should be as follows:

Lowe’s is the 14th largest retailer in the United States and is presently planning aggressive expansion, opening a new store on average every three days. Lowe's revenue growth is primarily a function of penetration of the market increase resulting from a burst of new locations instead of the same store sales. Although Lowe’s has grown tremendously, it remains half the size of Home Depot and has serious debt burden that increases its risk level drastically. Lowe’s is Home Depot’s largest competitor because both companies have the same products, services, and enormous warehouse formats. In this major retail market Lowe’s and Home Depot stores go toe

ROA is considered the best overall indicator of the efficiency of assets used in a company. Home Depot and Lowe’s ROA ratio both moved down due to the downturn in the industry but Home Depot was able to improve 2010.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc., is a $26.5 billion company that employs 122,000 people. It is the world’s second largest home improvement retailer and the 14th largest retailer in the United States as well as the 30th worldwide. Lowe’s owns 854 stores in 44 states and serves eight million do-it-yourself and commercial customers weekly. Headquartered in Wilkesboro, N.C., Lowe’s has been in business for 57 years and publicly held for 41 with stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LOW. The company offers products and services in home improvement, home décor, home maintenance, home repair and remodeling and lawn and garden.

Lowe’s is the world’s second largest home improvement retailer and operated 952 stores in forty five states at their fiscal year ending January 30, 2004. The company is currently in the midst of the most aggressive expansion in its history with 130 new stores opened in 2003 and another 140 slated for this year. Lowe’s saw 2003 sales reach approximately $30.8 billion, due largely to their focus on the retail customers and home-improvement projects.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is now focusing on the expansion of its superstores in to the Northeast and, Western United States, Florida, and urban markets. Lowe’s is currently undergoing a five year two billion dollar expansion plan. This expansion plan is combined with the merger and re-merchandizing of Eagle Hardware & Garden, Inc. In 1999, Lowe’s transformed forty-one Eagle Hardware & Garden stores into Lowe’s stores. Most of these stores were located in the Western United States. Some might say that this aggressive expansion plan that Lowe’s is undertaking, might be overdoing it. That is nonsense; Lowe’s and its largest competitor Home Depot,

This paper gives the reader an insight into how a manager in a competitive industry in a two-firm constant sum game makes decisions. The writer will be playing the role of a Home Depot, Inc. manager, and the major competitor is Lowe’s, Inc. Home Depot is the largest United States (U.S.) home-improvement retailer while Lowe’s is the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer. This is significant because what one company does affects the other. To compare the two companies their company profiles were reviewed. The latest news headlines on both companies were

While evaluating these results, one can ask several questions to understand the reasons of the fall in the company’s

As with any company expansion into a foreign country, the largest challenge for Lowe’s will be the impact on the local economy. The basic question of acceptance by the community will determine future sales. Any time a large retailer shows up there is a chance of lack of community support through loss of local businesses. Lowe’s creates competition for small companies but can also create guaranteed sales for the local companies that want to participate in the corporate successes. Lowe’s has created locally owned companies to assist in marketing and sales of products offered through the retail store. One of the biggest services Lowe’s offers the local economy is the cash flow and purchasing power necessary to finance local change. Most governments will welcome large corporations to the economy simply to assist in creating better trades and services. As mentioned before, Lowe’s creates sales through

the investors face difficulty when pursuing to anticipate the future of a firm based on past-oriented financial statements. Forward-looking information is essential for the investors, as their decisions are largely determined by the future prospects of a company. Forecasting is, however, an intricate process, which is further impeded by the information asymmetry between investors and the company‟s management.