Home Depot or Lowe’s: After Earnings, Who Came Out Ahead?

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) are nearing the end of their busy season, and it’s time to see how they each measure up. Lowe’s just reported earnings this week and Home Depot the week before, and these numbers will serve as the basis for comparison between the two home improvement giants.

24/7 Wall St. has included some other metrics that investors will find useful as well.

Home Depot

Home Depot posted $3.05 in earnings per share (EPS) and $30.5 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $2.84 in EPS on revenue of $30.03 billion. In the same period of last year, the company said it had EPS of $2.25 and $28.11 billion in revenue.

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Same-store sales rose 8.0% globally and 8.1% in the United States.

Compared to consensus estimates for the 2018 fiscal full year, Home Depot’s stock trades at a 20.8 price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, and compared to fiscal 2019 the stock has a 19.4 P/E ratio.

Currently, Home Depot has a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 2.20 for the trailing 12 months.

Home Depot also pays out a 2.1% dividend.

So far in 2018, Home Depot has underperformed the broad markets, with its stock up only 5% year to date. However, in the past 52 weeks the stock is up closer to 33%.

Shares of Home Depot closed most recently at $198.97, with a consensus analyst price target of $214.60 and a 52-week trading range of $147.98 to $207.61.

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Lowe’s

Lowe’s said that it had $2.07 in EPS and $20.89 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates had called for $2.02 in EPS on revenue of $20.78 billion, and in the fiscal second quarter of last year, the retailer said it had EPS of $1.57 and $19.5 billion in revenue.

Comparable sales for the U.S. home improvement business increased 5.3%.

Compared to consensus estimates for the fiscal 2018 full year, Lowe’s stock trades with a 19.8 P/E ratio, and compared to the fiscal 2019 full year, the stock has a 17.4 P/E ratio. And it has a P/S ratio of 1.25 for the trailing 12 months.

Lowe’s pays a dividend of 0.5%.

So far in 2018, Lowe’s has outperformed the broad markets, with its stock up about 13.5% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is up closer to 39%.

Lowe’s closed at $105.52 a share, in a 52-week range of $72.32 to $109.80. The consensus price target is $115.38.

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