Home Compare HD vs LOW
Stock Comparison · Industry comparison · Home Improvement Retail

The Home Depot vs Lowe's Companies: Which Stock Looks Stronger in 2026?

Lowe's Companies holds the cleaner structural position, with the lead spread across growth and profitability. The Home Depot does not offset that deficit through any equally strong structural edge elsewhere. Both sides have seen trend damage — neither carries a clear market edge right now. With both trends damaged, the structural comparison carries most of the weight here.

The comparison is based on similar long-term financial trajectories, not sector labels. Both peer scores are relative to the S&P 500 universe, making them directly comparable.

Updated 2026-08-16

This is not just a one-metric split: both growth and profitability materially support the lead. The overall score gap is 15 points in favour of Lowe's Companies, Inc..

INDUSTRY COMPARISON

Both operate in: Home Improvement Retail

This comparison is based on industry proximity, not on functional trajectory similarity. HD and LOW share the same industry classification.

For a similarity-based comparison, see how The Home Depot and Lowe's Companies each position within their functional peer groups in AssetNext.

Peer-Relative Score
HD
The Home Depot, Inc.
51
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: S&P 500
vs
LOW
Lowe's Companies, Inc.
66
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: S&P 500

Scores reflect position relative to comparable companies with similar long-term financial trajectories.

More than one operating dimension supports the result here.

Dimension spread: HD vs LOW Profitability 48 69 Stability 58 53 Valuation 65 83 Growth 28 50 HD LOW
Gap Ranking
#1 Growth +22
#2 Profitability +21
#3 Valuation +18
#4 Stability +5
Price Setup

Left means cheaper relative valuation. Higher means stronger structure.

Price setup map for HD and LOW Stronger + cheaper Stronger + richer Weaker + cheaper Weaker + richer HDLOW Relative valuation Structural strength

Lowe's Companies, Inc. looks stronger on relative valuation, while the broader price setup remains mixed.

Valuation position uses peer-relative PE percentile (idx_pct_pe) where available.

Entry today — historical context

Where HD and LOW each sit in their own 5-year price and valuation history.

BASED ON 5-YEAR HISTORY HD Neutral · above norm 0th 50th 100th 3 pct gap LOW Neutral · near norm 0th 50th 100th 59th 56th
HD (59th percentile) and LOW (56th percentile) both sit in the upper-middle of their own 5-year ranges. The historical entry context is broadly similar for both. This reflects entry timing, not which company is structurally stronger.

Describes historical entry positioning only. Descriptive — not investment advice.

Relative Position vs Comparable Companies
Growth
Lowe's Companies, Inc. sits in the stronger part of the group on growth, while The Home Depot, Inc. is closer to mid-pack.
Profitability
Both rank well on profitability, but Lowe's Companies, Inc. still holds a clear edge.
Growth — Dominant Gap
HD
28
LOW
50
Gap+22in favour of LOW

The main growth separation is clear, driven by a meaningfully stronger expansion profile.

What else supports the lead

Profitability still reinforces the same direction, which makes the lead look broader across the profile.

What this means for the comparison

The lead is built on both growth and profitability, making it broader than a single-dimension result.

Explore full peer positioning in AssetNext

Break down the HD vs LOW comparison across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.

Explore full breakdown →
Similar growth-and-profitability comparisons

Explore how HD and LOW each compare against other companies in their peer groups.

Rule-based, descriptive analysis only. Derived from peer percentile dimensions. Not investment advice. Peer groups are determined algorithmically based on structural similarity — not by sector classification alone.

How AssetNext Peer Scores Work

AssetNext scores reflect each company's structural position within its functional peer group — not a ranking against all stocks simultaneously. Peers are identified by similarity across eight financial dimensions, including revenue growth trajectory, margin structure, capital intensity, and earnings stability. A score of 75 means the company ranks in the top quartile within its own peer group, not the entire market.

Four dimension scores drive the overall peer score: Growth (revenue trajectory and expansion dynamics), Quality (margin structure and capital efficiency), Valuation (peer-relative pricing on standard multiples), and Stability (earnings consistency and financial predictability). Each dimension is scored 0–100 relative to the peer group, then combined into an overall peer score using equal weighting.

Because scores are peer-relative, the same company can have slightly different scores in different index universes. On comparison pages, both companies are shown within their shared peer universe wherever possible — so the scores are directly comparable. The peer basis is stated on each score card.

Scores are recalculated periodically as underlying financial data is updated. All analysis is descriptive and rule-based — AssetNext describes structural realities and never issues buy, sell or hold recommendations.