Financial Analysis Of Home Depot And Lowe's

11 Pages 2783 Words

largest retailer worldwide. Presently, in the midst of an aggressive expansion plan, Lowe's is opening a new store on average every 3 days. In 2001 alone, the company opened 115 new stores with an emphasis on large cities of population over 500,000, such as New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. As a publicly held company since 1961, their stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol LOW.

On April 1, 2002, many leading business publications released their 2001 corporate rankings. Among those ranked highly was Lowe's. It made it to the Fortune 100 top list of corporations by jumping 14 places up from the 2001 listing. It is a prestige to be included in this list of top performers, which is based on corporate revenue. Business Week magazine ranked Lowe's number eight in their annual Business Week 50 edition. The rankings are based on corporate sales growth, earnings growth, and total shareholder return. Forbes magazine listed Lowe's at number 77 on their Super 500 List. This annual list is a report on the 2001 financial performance of America's biggest corporations based on sales, profits, assets, and market value.

Aside from making money, the company is also giving money to the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation. This tradition of contributions to community-based, grass-roots projects, started in 1957. Over the past seven years, the Foundation has donated more than $4 million to non-profit organizations in communities they serve. The issues supported by the Foundation include projects that enhance the natural environment and improvement of community areas. The funds, which are directed toward educational needs of the communities, are used as scholarships for individuals seeking technical/trade schooling.

We decided as a group that the financial analysis of these two companies would be beneficial to our understanding of financial reporting and accounting in general. We believe so, m...