Recent quarterly reports from two of the United States’s largest home-improvement companies has drawn renewed attention to their apparently divergent fortunes. Despite nearly identical business structures, market geographies and penetration strategies, these two firms do not seem to be playing on a level field. According to its most recent report, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) saw worse-than-expected sales and profit figures during the first quarter. Meanwhile, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) enjoyed a banner quarter and saw its stock hit an all-time high immediately following the release of its numbers.
Investors and market-watchers have a number of theories about this divergent performance. It is important to note that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) has been kind to run-of-the-mill investors: Over the past few months, its stock has appreciated by about 20 percent. This compares to an increase of 30 percent for The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD). Investors who wish to gain exposure to the home-improvement space would do well to compare these two firms to another well-known competitor in the industry.
Lowe’s: Recent Moves and Price Performance
Over the past two years, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) has more than doubled in value. In theory, the company stands to derive immense benefits from continued improvement in the housing and commercial real estate sectors. Although the company has issued solid earnings reports for much of this time period, it is fair to say that some of its run-up was due to investors’ expectations of secular tailwinds.
What About Home Depot?
For its part, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) may have benefited from its outsize presence along the West Coast and in the American Southwest. Whereas historical Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) strongholds in the Midwest and South saw an unusually cold late winter and spring that delayed the start of the home-improvement season, the West Coast experienced unusually warm temperatures and sunny weather that conspired to jump-start the building season. Although this thesis cannot explain all of the issues that afflict Lowe’s, it could account for some of its problems. If it is correct, the company should have a better third quarter.
Of course, improved performance on the part of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) will not change the fact that Home Depot appears to be in a better position at the moment. Despite its expensive valuation, Home Depot may be a safer pick for investors who worry about the staying power of the U.S. housing recovery.
Can Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) Compete?
Charlotte-based Lowe’s and Atlanta-based Home Depot must compete with a still-formidable force in the retailing and home-improvement businesses: Chicago-based Sears Holding Corporation .
When it comes to market capitalization, Home Depot dwarfs its two competitors. The company’s valuation of nearly $120 billion exceeds the figure for Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by a factor of 2.5 and crushes Sears’s valuation by a factor of 20. In 2012, Home Depot earned a profit of about $4.5 billion on revenues of nearly $75 billion. Lowe’s managed a profit of around $2 billion on revenues of $50 billion, and Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) reported a $930 million loss on total revenues of about $40 billion. To complement its poor earnings performance, Sears also reported an annual operating cash bleed of over $300 million. This compares to operating cash flow figures of nearly $7 billion for Home Depot and about $3.8 billion for Lowe’s. Unsurprisingly, Sears has a price-to-book ratio of just 2.3. By comparison, Home Depot’s price-to-book figure exceeds 6.5. Lowe’s has a middling P/B in the neighborhood of 3.4.
