LOW vs DHR 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.

In 1984, Danaher's founders transformed a real estate organization into an industrial-focused manufacturing company. Then, through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, Danaher now focuses primarily on manufacturing scientific instruments and consumables in the life science and diagnostic industries after the late 2023 divestiture of its environmental and applied solutions group, Veralto.