Building retail · 15/36 against 14/36 checks · to 2026-09-08
HD vs LOW.
Home DepotThe largest home-improvement retailer, selling to homeowners and building contractors.
Lowe'sThe second-largest home-improvement retailer, skewed to homeowners.→Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW) are within reach of each other at $313.0B and $112.7B, and on the filings Home Depot passes more, 15 checks of 36 against 14.
Which passes more checks?
widest gap first→No axis separates them by more than 1 of six checks, and the widest is Value. They score identically on 3 of the six, so the difference between them is narrower than a headline suggests.
| HD | LOW | |
|---|---|---|
| Value | 2/6 | 3/6 |
| Growth | 2/6 | 1/6 |
| Quality | 4/6 | 3/6 |
| Health | 2/6 | 2/6 |
| Shareholder returns | 5/6 | 5/6 |
| Trend analysis | 0/6 | 0/6 |
| All checks | 15/36 | 14/36 |
→Home Depot turns over $169.2B to Lowe's's $90.4B, 1.9 times as much. Home Depot keeps 8.4% of revenue as profit against 7.3% at Lowe's.
Which is cheaper?
→Lowe's is the cheaper of the two on earnings, 16.9x against 22.1x. Against their own histories, Home Depot is above its 17.5x median and Lowe's is below its 19.2x.
| HD | LOW | |
|---|---|---|
| Share price | $313.70 | $200.80 |
| Market cap | $313.0B | $112.7B |
| P/E | 22.1x | 16.9x |
| P/E, own median own 7-year median / own 6-year median | 17.5x | 19.2x |
| P/S | 1.8x | 1.2x |
| Free cash flow yield | 4.8% | 6.2% |
Which is growing faster, HD or LOW?
| HD | LOW | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (TTM) | $169.2B | $90.4B |
| Revenue growth, 1 year | - | +8.2% |
| Revenue CAGR, 3 years | +4.9% | - |
| Net income (TTM) | $14.2B | $6.6B |
| Free cash flow (TTM) | $15.1B | $7.0B |
Which keeps more of each sale?
→Their gross margins are within 0.1 points of each other, 33.2% at Home Depot and 33.1% at Lowe's, so neither keeps materially more of a sale than the other.
| HD | LOW | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 33.2% | 33.1% |
| Operating margin | 12.4% | 11.4% |
| Return on equity | 85.6% | - |
Which balance sheet is stronger?
| HD | LOW | |
|---|---|---|
| Debt / equity | 2.64x | - |
| Interest coverage | 8.7x | 31.0x |
| Cash and short-term investments | $2.1B | $3.4B |
Which hands more back to owners?
→Both pay: Home Depot yields the more at 2.7% against 2.3%. A yield rises when a price falls, so read it beside the payout checks in each report.
| HD | LOW | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 2.7% | 2.3% |
| Payout ratio | 58.9% | 39.7% |
| Years of unbroken dividend | - | - |
Where they differ most
the checks behind the gapValue: Lowe's 1 ahead
- Earnings yield beats a long bond (4%) 5.9% vs 4.0%
- Free cash flow yield above 3% 6.2% vs 3.0%
- Cheap on enterprise value 11.37 vs 14.00 (peer median)
- Cheap on enterprise value 14.39 vs 14.00 (peer median)
- Price isn't outrunning growth PEG 2.70
Growth: Home Depot 1 ahead
- Profits grew last year swung to a profit of $14.2B from a loss
- Grew per share, not just in total 24.3% vs 0.0%
- Outgrew its sector last year 8.2% vs 11.3% (market 70th pct)
- Profits grew last year -3.1% vs 0.0%