Lowe's Companies (LOW) Competitors

Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Which has more volatility and risk, LOW or COST?

Lowe's Companies has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is LOW or COST a better dividend stock?

Lowe's Companies pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Lowe's Companies pays out 39.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Costco Wholesale pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Lowe's Companies has raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years and Costco Wholesale has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Lowe's Companies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is LOW or COST more profitable?

Lowe's Companies has a net margin of 8.20% compared to Costco Wholesale's net margin of 2.92%. Costco Wholesale's return on equity of 30.48% beat Lowe's Companies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lowe's Companies	8.20%	-52.02%	15.13%
Costco Wholesale	2.92%	30.48%	10.52%

Do analysts prefer LOW or COST?

Lowe's Companies presently has a consensus price target of $284.13, indicating a potential upside of 7.50%. Costco Wholesale has a consensus price target of $1,050.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.14%. Given Costco Wholesale's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Costco Wholesale is more favorable than Lowe's Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lowe's Companies	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, LOW or COST?

Costco Wholesale has higher revenue and earnings than Lowe's Companies. Lowe's Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costco Wholesale, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lowe's Companies	$83.67B	1.77	$6.96B	$12.17	21.72
Costco Wholesale	$254.45B	1.66	$7.37B	$17.63	54.07

Does the media refer more to LOW or COST?

In the previous week, Costco Wholesale had 29 more articles in the media than Lowe's Companies. MarketBeat recorded 82 mentions for Costco Wholesale and 53 mentions for Lowe's Companies. Lowe's Companies' average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Costco Wholesale's score of 1.02 indicating that Lowe's Companies is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lowe's Companies	36 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costco Wholesale	56 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of LOW or COST?

74.1% of Lowe's Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Lowe's Companies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Costco Wholesale beats Lowe's Companies on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.