Lowe’s vs Home Depot: Q4 Fiscal 2025 reports and stock outlook

Deep Dive

The headline framing that "Lowe’s stock has trounced Home Depot’s" focuses investor attention as both retailers report quarterly results this week. Home Depot (HD) will report results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2025 early Tuesday. Lowe’s (LOW) will report early Wednesday.

Both companies share similar business models, creating a rare opportunity for direct, side-by-side comparisons of operating performance, shareholder returns and growth guidance.

Earnings calendar

- Home Depot (HD): fourth quarter, fiscal 2025 — results early Tuesday

- Lowe’s (LOW): fourth quarter, fiscal 2025 — results early Wednesday

Why investors compare HD and LOW

- Comparable business models: Both are large U.S. home-improvement retailers with similar retail footprints and product mixes.

- Direct performance benchmarks: Quarterly reports enable apples-to-apples review of comp-store sales, operating margins and capital allocation.

- Stock returns and capital returns: Investors evaluate dividends, buybacks and total return trends when comparing HD and LOW.

Key metrics to examine (non-exhaustive)

- Comparable-store sales (same-store sales)

- Operating margin and gross margin trends

- Guidance for sales and margin in the coming fiscal period

- Capital allocation: dividend levels and share repurchase activity

- Cash flow and balance-sheet flexibility

How to use the two reports

Line up the same quarter for both retailers (Q4 fiscal 2025) and compare headline sales and comp-store metrics.

Isolate operating-cost trends to see which company is driving margin expansion or contraction.

Compare capital-return programs and any changes to guidance that affect growth expectations.

Use sequential and year-over-year trends to separate one-time items from underlying performance.

Quotable summary

"Home Depot (HD) and Lowe’s (LOW) report consecutive fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results this week, providing a direct basis for comparing operating performance, stock returns and growth expectations."

This concise framework helps professional traders, institutional investors and analysts extract comparable, decision-ready data from the two reports without speculation.