Lowes Companies vs Sherwin Williams
LOW and SHW side by side, both in consumer discretionary. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How LOW and SHW compare
Lowes Companies is the larger company, worth 1.5 times as much as Sherwin Williams ($117B against $80.7B).
On earnings, Lowes Companies is cheaper: it trades at 17.7× trailing earnings, against 30.7× for Sherwin Williams.
Lowes Companies grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (8.2% versus 5.8% for Sherwin Williams).
Sherwin Williams keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 11.0% compared with 7.3% at Lowes Companies.
Both pay dividends: Lowes Companies yields 1.7% and Sherwin Williams 0.96%.
Sherwin Williams scores higher on the StockData Score (15 against 14 for Lowes Companies), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | LOW | SHW |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $117B | $80.7B |
| Share price | $209.07 | $332.61 |
| Change, 1 year | −12.3% | −3.8% |
| Change, 5 years | −11.2% | 4.3% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.93 | 0.91 |
| Employees | 167K | 64K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 14 | 15 (better) |
| Valuation score | 3 (better) | 1 |
| Growth score | 1 | 4 (better) |
| Performance score | 3 | 5 (better) |
| Health score | 3 (better) | 1 |
| Dividend score | 4 | 4 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 17.7× (better) | 30.7× |
| P/S | 1.3× (better) | 3.3× |
| P/B | – | 20.9× |
| EV/EBITDA | 12.0× | – |
| P/FCF | 16.8× (better) | 25.1× |
| PEG | 3.38 | 3.08 (better) |
| FCF yield | 6.0% (better) | 4.0% |
| Fair value | $197.34 | $233.43 |
| Margin of safety | −5.9% (better) | −42.5% |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 8.2% (better) | 5.8% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | −0.75% | 5.1% (better) |
| Net income growth (TTM) | −3.1% | 5.6% (better) |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −2.8% | 7.6% (better) |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | 8.9% (better) | 6.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 33.1% | 49.0% (better) |
| Operating margin | 11.4% | – |
| Net margin | 7.3% | 11.0% (better) |
| FCF margin | 7.7% | 13.2% (better) |
| Return on equity | – | 65.1% |
| Return on invested capital | 34.8% | – |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | – | 3.13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.71 | – |
| Current ratio | 1.10 (better) | 0.73 |
| Altman Z-score | 3.18 (better) | 2.99 |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 1.7% (better) | 0.96% |
| Payout ratio | 40.5% | 29.2% |
| Years of dividend growth | 17 (better) | 16 |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 15.6% (better) | 12.1% |
| Buyback yield | 0.40% | 3.2% (better) |
| Shareholder yield | 2.1% | 4.2% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 79.0% | 83.1% |
| Held by insiders | 0.11% | 0.32% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$12.9M | −$9.7M (better) |
| Superinvestors holding | 1 | 4 (better) |
| Short interest, % of float | 1.9% | 2.9% |
Go deeper
- LOW stock overview
- LOW income statement
- LOW valuation and score
- SHW stock overview
- SHW income statement
- SHW valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.