Both Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) are reporting earnings this week. As they are the two largest home improvement retailers in the United States, 24/7 Wall St. thought it would be appropriate to compare each ahead of earnings.

Home Depot is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter financial results before the markets open on Tuesday. Consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $1.71 in earnings per share (EPS) on $24.71 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $1.52 in EPS on $23.81 billion in revenue.

This company remains the undisputed leader in the home improvement retail category. Home Depot is in the company’s calendar year sweet spot as summer projects and new home purchasing tend to reach a zenith during the summer months.

While the company is well-known for the ubiquitous store presence across the country, Kevin Hofmann, senior vice president and president of the online business recently, mentioned at the Goldman Sachs dotCommerce Day 2015 that the ticket size for online sales is significantly higher than the average in-store spend. The ticket size for physical stores averages $55 to $65 per transaction. The average ticket size for e-commerce sales is apparently much higher, although the company has not disclosed that figure.

According to a couple recent analyst calls:

• Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a Hold rating with a $106 price target.
• Longbow Research reiterated a Buy rating with a $130 price target.

So far in 2015, Home Depot shares have outperformed the market; shares are up 15.3% year to date, while they were up a whopping 46% over the past 52 weeks.

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Shares of Home Depot were up 0.4% to $120.28 Monday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $124.57 and a 52-week trading range of $83.29 to $120.75. Home Depot has a market cap of $156 billion.

Lowe’s is scheduled to report earnings on Wednesday before the markets open. The consensus estimates call for $1.24 in EPS on $17.30 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $1.04 in EPS on $16.60 billion in revenue.

This is another home improvement company that the UBS team feels can leap past declining multiples as rates rise with higher earnings. Lowe’s ranks very highly with consumers. The company serves approximately 16 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico through its stores and online. With fiscal year 2014 sales of $56.2 billion, Lowe’s has more than 1,840 home improvement and hardware stores and 265,000 employees.

A couple of analysts weighed in on Lowe’s ahead of earnings:

• Longbow Research reiterated a Buy rating with an $85 price target.
• Morgan Stanley reiterated a Buy rating with an $84 price target.

So far in 2015, Lowe’s shares have slowly and steadily gained. Shares were only up 6% year to date, while they were up 45% in the past 52-weeks.

Shares of Lowe’s were up 0.5%, at $72.49 in its 52-week trading range of $49.70 to $76.25. The consensus analyst price target is $79.09 and the market cap is nearly $68 billion.

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