LOW vs BX Comparison

Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement retailer globally, with around 1,750 stores in the US, after the 2023 divestiture of its Canadian locations (RONA, Lowe's Canada, Réno-Dépôt, and Dick's Lumber). The firm's stores offer products and services for home decorating, maintenance, repair, and remodeling, with maintenance and repair accounting for two-thirds of products sold. Lowe's primarily targets retail do-it-yourself (around 70% of sales) and do-it-for-me customers, but has expanded its professional business clients to 30% from less than 20% in the past six years (set ot expand further with the acquisition of FBM). We estimate Lowe's captures a high-single-digit share of the domestic home improvement market, based on US Census data and management's market size estimates.

Blackstone is the world's largest alternative-asset manager with $1.167 trillion in total asset under management, including $860.1 billion in fee-earning assets under management, at the end of March 2025. The company has four core business segments: private equity (26% of fee-earning AUM and 30% of base management fees), real estate (34% and 40%), credit and insurance (32% and 23%), and multi-asset investing (8% and 7%). While the firm primarily serves institutional investors (87% of AUM), it also caters to clients in the high-net-worth channel (13%). Blackstone operates through 25 offices in the Americas (8), Europe and the Middle East (9), and the Asia-Pacific region (8).