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 superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, profitability and media sentiment.

Do analysts rate LOW or COST?

Lowe's Companies presently has a consensus target price of $271.12, indicating a potential upside of 18.91%. Costco Wholesale has a consensus target price of $1,034.79, indicating a potential upside of 4.92%. Given Lowe's Companies' higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Lowe's Companies is more favorable than Costco Wholesale.

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)	9 Hold rating(s)	20 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, 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	1.53	$6.96B	$12.07	18.89
Costco Wholesale	$254.45B	1.72	$7.37B	$17.63	55.94

Is LOW or COST more profitable?

Lowe's Companies has a net margin of 8.22% 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	8.22%	-49.12%	15.07%
Costco Wholesale	2.92%	30.48%	10.52%

Which has more volatility & risk, LOW or COST?

Lowe's Companies has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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

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

Does the media favor LOW or COST?

In the previous week, Costco Wholesale had 98 more articles in the media than Lowe's Companies. MarketBeat recorded 139 mentions for Costco Wholesale and 41 mentions for Lowe's Companies. Lowe's Companies' average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Costco Wholesale's score of 1.05 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	34 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costco Wholesale	96 Very Positive mention(s)	16 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LOW or COST a better dividend stock?

Lowe's Companies pays an annual dividend of $4.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Lowe's Companies pays out 38.1% 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.

Summary

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