AnalystScope equity researchCurrent company view

LOW

Lowe's Companies, Inc.

Consumer Discretionary / Home Improvement Retail / Mooresville, NC

View printable snapshot

AnalystScope signal

Buy

Scheduled quote

$208

Base fair value

$234

Bear / base / bull

$198 / $234 / $260

Upside / downside

+12.6 upside

Confidence

Medium

Research updated Jun 13, 2026

Daily scheduled refresh as of Aug 1, 2026, 6:05 AM UTC. Fresh through Aug 2, 2026, 6:05 AM UTC.

Informational research only. Not personalized investment advice.

Model vs published view

Current model signal differs from the latest published analyst rating.

Investment summary

Current view and thesis

Lowe's adds a clean home-improvement comparison point to Home Depot. The initial view is balanced: durable cash generation, but still tied to housing and repair/remodel demand.

Fair value $234 vs. current $208 (+12.6 upside). Current base fair value is $234 versus $208, implying +12.6 upside.

Key drivers

Repair/remodel demand and housing turnover remain the main revenue sensitivity.

Professional customer penetration can support mix and productivity if execution improves.

Cash conversion remains the strongest support for the valuation floor.

Key risks

A prolonged housing slowdown could pressure comparable sales and margin leverage.

Debt and buyback intensity leave less room for execution disappointment.

Competitive pressure from Home Depot and broadline retail could limit share gains.

What would change the view

A wider discount to fair value would make the cash-generation story more compelling.

Evidence of durable pro-customer share gains would improve growth confidence.

Further demand softness or weaker cash conversion would lower conviction.

Valuation

Price, range, and method support

Base case $234 / +12.6 upside / medium confidence

Price vs fair value

+12.6%

Model-implied return

Scheduled quote

$208

Fair value

$234

Valuation method stack

Weighted fair value $234

Published method weights

DCF (Base)

$238 | 45%

NTM P/E Multiple

$232 | 35%

EV/EBITDA Cross-check

$229 | 20%

Case / method	Value	Weight / support
DCF (Base)	$238	45%
NTM P/E Multiple	$232	35%
EV/EBITDA Cross-check	$229	20%
Bear case	$198	Mixed
Base case	$234	Constrained
Bull case	$260	Mixed

Fundamental analysis

Reported evidence and normalized model base

Normalized annual basis: FY2026

Download reported financials CSV Download normalized financials CSV

Normalized figures are AnalystScope's annual valuation model base.

Normalized metric	Latest value	Growth / margin context
Revenue	$84.8B	+1.3% YoY
Operating income	$10.3B	12.1% margin
Net income	$6.6B	EPS proxy $11.49
Free cash flow	$8.3B	9.8% margin
EBITDA	$12.0B	14.2% margin
Net cash / (debt)	-$34.9B	-41.2% of revenue

Metric	Reported	AnalystScope normalized	Basis note
Revenue (TTM)	$86.3B	$84.8B	Model revenue smooths housing-cycle and DIY demand timing rather than extrapolating one weak remodel period.
Operating Margin	11.8%	12.1%	Margin input keeps the base case anchored to mature home-improvement economics and avoids assuming rapid leverage.
FCF (TTM)	$7.7B	$8.3B	FCF input normalizes inventory and working-capital swings that can move sharply through housing cycles.
Net Cash / (Debt)	($4.5B)	($34.9B)	Balance-sheet treatment keeps Lowe's debt load visible despite strong cash conversion.

Fundamental snapshot

FY2026

Normalized annual model base

Revenue

+1.3% YoY

$84.8B

Op. margin

+0.2% pts

12.1%

FCF margin

+0.1% pts

9.8%

Revenue + margin trend

Annual normalized model-base history.

Revenue

2024

2025

2026

Operating margin

2024

2025

2026

AnalystScope annual model-base statements in USD across FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026.

Income statement

Line item	FY2024	FY2025	FY2026
Revenue	$86.4B	$83.7B	$84.8B
Gross Profit	$28.5B	$27.8B	$28.2B
Operating Income	$10.4B	$10.0B	$10.3B
EBITDA	$12.1B	$11.7B	$12.0B
Net Income	$6.7B	$6.4B	$6.6B

Balance sheet

Line item	FY2024	FY2025	FY2026
Cash & Investments	$1.2B	$1.4B	$1.6B
Total Debt	$35.0B	$36.0B	$36.5B
Net Cash / (Debt)	($33.8B)	($34.6B)	($34.9B)
Total Assets	$43.0B	$44.0B	$45.0B
Total Liabilities	$41.0B	$42.5B	$43.8B
Shareholders' Equity	$2.0B	$1.5B	$1.2B

Cash flow

Line item	FY2024	FY2025	FY2026
Operating Cash Flow	$10.0B	$9.9B	$10.2B
Depreciation & Amortization	$1.7B	$1.7B	$1.7B
Capital Expenditures	($1.9B)	($1.8B)	($1.9B)
Free Cash Flow	$8.1B	$8.1B	$8.3B

Model assumptions

Base-case inputs and sensitivity

Published AnalystScope assumptions; private edits do not change this base case.

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

3.5%

+/- 1.0% => +/-$5/sh

Why this level: This is AnalystScope's base-case growth assumption, not a guarantee. It sits below the latest FY model-base revenue pace (2026.0%), so the model does not extend current strength too far into the outer years. Current company context: Repair/remodel demand and housing turnover remain the main revenue sensitivity.

Terminal Growth

2.2%

+/- 0.5% => +/-$4/sh

Why this level: This is AnalystScope's mature long-run growth assumption, not a perpetual hypergrowth claim. At 2.2%, it sits well below the 3.5% five-year revenue CAGR, so the model steps down from the explicit forecast period to a steadier long-run pace. For Lowe's Companies, Inc., that means a durable franchise can keep compounding after year five without assuming today's faster growth profile lasts indefinitely.

WACC

8.5%

+/- 0.5% => -$7/sh

Why this level: This is AnalystScope's base-case cost-of-capital judgment, not a precise CAPM output. It reflects the current rates backdrop, equity risk premium, and the company's balance-sheet posture. Debt load is manageable but material versus revenue

Operating Margin (Year 5)

12.4%

+/- 100 bps => +/-$5/sh

Why this level: This is AnalystScope's base-case margin view, not a promise of straight-line expansion. It keeps year-five margins close to today's model-base operating margin (12.1%), which implies the current margin structure is broadly durable. Margin input keeps the base case anchored to mature home-improvement economics and avoids assuming rapid leverage.

Sensitivity drivers

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

3.5%

+/- 1.0% => +/-$5/sh

Terminal Growth

2.2%

+/- 0.5% => +/-$4/sh

WACC

8.5%

+/- 0.5% => -$7/sh

Operating Margin (Year 5)

12.4%

+/- 100 bps => +/-$5/sh

Confidence

Medium

Method outputs are tightly grouped at +3.8% dispersion.

Why the model view could be wrong

A prolonged housing slowdown could pressure comparable sales and margin leverage.

Debt and buyback intensity leave less room for execution disappointment.

Competitive pressure from Home Depot and broadline retail could limit share gains.

Private analysis

Test your own assumptions in Scenario Builder

Private scenarios remain separate from AnalystScope's published base case.

Open Scenario Builder

Private workspace

Scenario Builder

Private scenario sandbox

This is a private modelling layer, not the public AnalystScope base case or printable snapshot. It keeps the public base case as the anchor, applies bounded changes to the four core valuation inputs, and updates your scenario fair-value estimate immediately.

Saved scenarios currently stay local to this browser for LOW. Base-case rationale remains in the public assumptions section above. Your scenario output reprices the published valuation methods from projected operating anchors when those anchors are available, while keeping market-multiple and capital-structure assumptions anchored to the AnalystScope framework.

Editable assumptions

Adjust your scenario inputs within the displayed plausible range for this company. The workbench stays anchored to the public AnalystScope base case.

This is a bounded scenario tool, not a free-form spreadsheet. Values outside the displayed range snap back to the nearest allowed value when you leave the field.

Matches the published AnalystScope base case.

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

Public AnalystScope base case: 3.5% | +/- 1.0% => +/-$5/sh

Allowed range: 0.0% to 9.5%

Terminal Growth

Public AnalystScope base case: 2.2% | +/- 0.5% => +/-$4/sh

Allowed range: 1.0% to 3.7%

WACC

Public AnalystScope base case: 8.5% | +/- 0.5% => -$7/sh

Allowed range: 6.5% to 10.5%

Operating Margin (Year 5)

Public AnalystScope base case: 12.4% | +/- 100 bps => +/-$5/sh

Allowed range: 4.4% to 20.4%

Saved private scenarios

Save up to 5 named scenarios for LOW. These are your scenarios: they never overwrite the public AnalystScope base case and remain clearly separate from public research.

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Keep a short thesis, main risk, or why this case differs from the published base case.

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Notes stay local to this browser unless you sign in to the private workspace, and they never appear as published AnalystScope research.

No private scenarios saved yet. Make a change to the published base case, then save a named scenario here.

Published base case

Fair value

$234

Upside / Downside

+12.6 upside

Model signal

Buy

Published base-case output

Scenario output reprices the published DCF and multiple methods from projected year-5 revenue, margin, free cash flow, EBITDA, and EPS anchors. Market multiples and capital structure stay anchored to the published base framework.

Fair value

$234

$0/sh vs published base case

Upside / Downside

+12.6 upside

+0.0 pts vs published base case

Model signal

Buy

Unchanged versus the published base case.

Method movement inside the scenario

This breakdown shows what moved inside the published valuation framework when you edit the scenario. The published AnalystScope base case stays anchored, and any method without a clean projected anchor remains pinned to that framework.

Method rows below reflect the current edited scenario state, not just the saved scenario snapshots.

Influence tags are directional rather than exact attribution. They estimate which edited input is moving each method most by reverting one assumption at a time while the other edited inputs stay in place.

3 of 3 methods support model-native repricingModel-native bridge

Method	Published base	Edited scenario	Delta	How it moved / main drivers
DCF (Base) DCF-style \| 45% weight	$238	$238	$0/sh	Base-aligned This method is supported by the model-native bridge and currently stays aligned with the published base case. Edited inputs are largely offsetting each other, so this row stays close to the published base case.
NTM P/E Multiple P/E-style \| 35% weight	$232	$232	$0/sh	Base-aligned This method is supported by the model-native bridge and currently stays aligned with the published base case. Edited inputs are largely offsetting each other, so this row stays close to the published base case.
EV/EBITDA Cross-check EV-based multiple \| 20% weight	$229	$229	-$0/sh	Base-aligned This method is supported by the model-native bridge and currently stays aligned with the published base case. Edited inputs are largely offsetting each other, so this row stays close to the published base case.
Weighted fair value Published framework result \| Published framework result	$234	$234	+$0/sh	Moved Combines the repriced method outputs using the published AnalystScope weights. No single edited assumption is dominating this move in a material way.

Published base case vs private scenarios

Compare the published AnalystScope base case against your saved private scenarios in one view. Saved scenarios remain local to this browser, and the table below reflects saved snapshots rather than any unsaved edits currently sitting in the editor.

Fair-value comparisons use the same workbench recalculation path as the editor above.

Published base case stays pinned as the anchor row.

Scenario	Revenue CAGR (5Y)	Terminal Growth	WACC	Op. Margin (Y5)	Fair Value	Upside / Downside	Model Signal	Delta vs Base	Action
AnalystScope base case Published Official AnalystScope anchor row.	3.5%	2.2%	8.5%	12.4%	$234	+12.6 upside	Buy	Published anchor

Supporting research

Quality, normalization, and monitoring evidence

Annual model base: FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026

Thesis scorecard

Growth

Moderate

Growth is steady but housing-cycle dependent.

Profitability

Moderate

Margins are healthy for retail, though not expanding aggressively.

Balance sheet

Weak

Debt is manageable but large enough to keep the model conservative.

Valuation

Moderate

The current price sits close enough to fair value for a restrained initial view.

Execution / Resilience

Moderate

Scale and merchandising help, but macro demand remains important.

Current source status

Quote: Daily scheduled refresh as of Aug 1, 2026, 6:05 AM UTC. Fresh through Aug 2, 2026, 6:05 AM UTC.

Reported fundamentals: Fundamentals refreshed 1 Aug 2026, 16:26 UTC. Fresh through 2 Aug 2026, 04:26 UTC.

Latest filing: 4 filed Jul 10, 2026 | Reporting period Jul 9, 2026. Filing refreshed Aug 1, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC. Fresh through Aug 2, 2026, 4:26 AM UTC.

Annual model-base income-statement, cash-flow, and balance-sheet metrics, plus cross-statement quality relationships with compact prior-FY direction cues, derived from the curated statement backbone.

Basis: FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026. Live reported fundamentals remain available in the reconciliation section.

Operating and cash-flow trends

Model-base statements

Revenue growth (1Y)

+1.3%

Gross margin

33.3%

Operating margin

12.1%

Operating margin change vs prior FY

+0.2 pts

EBITDA margin

14.2%

EBITDA margin change vs prior FY

+0.2 pts

Operating income growth (1Y)

+3.0%

Net margin

7.8%

FCF margin

9.8%

FCF margin change vs prior FY

+0.1 pts

FCF growth (1Y)

+2.5%

Balance sheet quality

Model-base statements

Cash & investments

$1.6B

Total debt

$36.5B

Net cash / (debt)

Net debt $34.9B

Net cash / (debt) as % of revenue

Net debt 41.2% of revenue

Liabilities / assets

Stable

vs FY2025 (+0.7 pts)

97.3%

Cross-statement quality

Model-base statements

Gross-to-operating spread

21.1 pts

Operating cash flow / net income

Stable

vs FY2025 (-0.0x)

1.5x

Operating cash flow / EBITDA

Stable

vs FY2025 (+0.0x)

0.8x

Free cash flow / net income

Stable

vs FY2025 (-0.0x)

1.3x

CapEx as % of revenue

Stable

vs FY2025 (+0.1 pts)

2.2%

CapEx as % of operating cash flow

Stable

vs FY2025 (+0.4 pts)

18.6%

CapEx / D&A

Stable

vs FY2025 (+0.1x)

1.1x

Cash & investments / total debt

Stable

vs FY2025 (+0.0x)

0.0x

Shareholders' equity as % of revenue

1.4%

Asset turnover

Stable

vs FY2025 (-0.0x)

1.9x

Compact model-base diagnostics for analyst triage, highlighting where the durable valuation base is diverging most clearly from the latest reported picture.

Adjustment focus

Large analyst adjustment

Balance sheet | Net Cash / (Debt) | -$30.4B / -35% of revenue

Revenue momentum

Improving

+1.3% latest 1Y growth

vs -3.1% prior 1Y

Operating margin trend

Stable

12.1% latest margin

+20 bps vs prior FY

FCF margin trend

Stable

9.8% latest FCF margin

+11 bps vs prior FY

Balance-sheet posture

Stable

Net debt 41.2% of revenue

vs Net debt 41.3% of revenue prior FY

How to read this

Reported = the latest company-reported figure. Model base = AnalystScope's comparable operating base used for valuation and thesis work. It may include standardization, conservative balance-sheet treatment, working-capital cleanup, and through-cycle adjustments when current reported numbers do not look durable.

This is an analyst model base, not a claim of perfect adjusted truth. Larger gaps can reflect deliberate cyclical or base-case adjustments, not just light accounting cleanup.

Why the model base differs

Lowe's is modeled as a mature, cash-generative home-improvement retailer with cyclical demand sensitivity and a debt load that limits rating aggressiveness.

Rows are sorted by largest comparable adjustment first.

Metric	Model base	Live reported	Variance vs reported	Adjustment size	Why lower / higher?
Net Cash / (Debt)	($34.9B) FY2026 model base	($4.5B) Live reported balance sheet	-$30.4B / -35% of revenue	Large analyst adjustment	Model base is more conservative than the live reported balance-sheet figure. It keeps Lowe's debt load visible despite strong cash conversion.
FCF (TTM)	$8.3B FY2026 model base	$7.7B Live reported TTM	+$600.0M / +8%	Close to reported	Model base is higher than live reported because the model does not assume the latest cash-flow drag is fully durable. It normalizes inventory and working-capital swings that can move sharply through housing cycles.
Revenue (TTM)	$84.8B FY2026 model base	$86.3B Live reported TTM	-$1.5B / -2%	Close to reported	Model base is lower than live reported because the thesis does not carry the current revenue run-rate straight into the durable operating base. It smooths housing-cycle and DIY demand timing rather than extrapolating one weak remodel period.
Operating Margin	12.1% FY2026 model base	11.8% Live reported margin	+0.3 pts	Close to reported	Model base is higher than live reported because the model does not assume the latest reported margin pressure is the durable earnings base. It keeps the base case anchored to mature home-improvement economics and avoids assuming rapid leverage.

Near-term catalysts

Comparable-sales trends and pro-customer commentary remain the nearest model inputs.

Inventory productivity and gross-margin comments can shift the cash-flow view.

Housing turnover and repair/remodel indicators matter for demand normalization.

What we are watching

Whether demand stabilizes without requiring heavy promotional activity.

How Lowe's closes the execution gap versus Home Depot in pro categories.

Whether free cash flow remains resilient as the housing backdrop normalizes.

Date	Event	Published rating	Note
Jun 13, 2026	New	Hold	Started coverage with a Hold view on durable cash generation versus cyclical demand and leverage.