/Lowe)
Mooresville, North Carolina-based Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) operates as a home improvement retailer. It offers a line of products for construction, maintenance, repair, remodeling, decorating, and home improvement. With a market cap of $126.3 billion, the company operates 120+ supply chain facilities and 1,750 home improvement and hardware stores spread across the U.S.
Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as "large-cap stocks." Lowe's fits this bill perfectly. Given the company's widespread store network, its valuation above this mark is not surprising. Lowe’s serves nearly 16 million customer transactions per week in the U.S. and employs over 300,000 people and operates as the second largest home improvement retailer in the world.
Despite its strengths, LOW stock has plunged 21.4% from its all-time high of $287.01 touched on Oct. 15, 2024. In the past three months alone, the stock has dropped 9.3%, significantly underperforming the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLY) marginal dip during the same time frame.
Lowe’s performance has remained grim over the longer term as well. LOW stock has dropped 8.6% on a YTD basis and gained 1.9% over the past 52 weeks, lagging behind XLY’s 4.5% dip in 2025 and 21.8% surge over the past year.
To confirm the downturn, LOW stock has traded mostly below its 50-day moving average since mid-December 2024 and below its 200-day moving average since mid-February, with some fluctuations.
Lowe’s stock prices dropped 1.7% following the release of its disappointing Q1 results on May 21. The weakness in the housing market and increased macro uncertainties notably impacted the company’s comparable store sales as well as online sales. Its overall topline for the quarter dropped more than 2% year-over-year to $20.9 billion. Meanwhile, its net earnings declined 6.5% year-over-year to $1.6 billion, and its cash flow from operations tanked by 20.7% to $3.4 billion, making investors jittery. Furthermore, with U.S. consumer confidence hitting new lows and a decrease in employment activities, Lowe’s may experience a further slowdown in its topline figures.
Lowe’s has also underperformed its competitor Home Depot, Inc.’s (HD) 5.4% decline on a YTD basis and 9.9% surge over the past 52 weeks.
Nevertheless, analysts remain confident in the stock’s long-term prospects. Among the 31 analysts covering the LOW stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” Its mean price target of $265.78 suggests a notable 17.9% upside potential from current price levels.
