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Signal Ledger valuation · LOW

Lowe's Companies Inc

What the shares are worth today on our research (cited consensus, company plans and peers, since management sets no usable targets): every line valued at the end of FY2030, net debt rolled forward, then discounted back to Jul 31, 2026.

Signal Ledger valuation$248.82+22% vs $204.37
Business value at FY2030
$189B
FY2030 revenue
$99B
FY2030 EPS · P/E
$16.54 · 19×
Discount rate (WACC · equity)
7.47% · 8.86%

How this is built. Latest outlook supersedes pre-acquisition financial assumptions; FY2026 management guidance and FY2027 consensus anchor a housing mid-cycle research estimate without compounding acquisition growth indefinitely. Each input below shows its basis: consensus, company plan, peer or rule.

Researched Oct 23, 2026 from SEC filing 0000060667-26-000117 · price $204.37 at research time · Valuation methodology

Latest quarter in this research: Q2 FY2026

Reported Aug 19, 2026 for the quarter to Jul 31, 2026 (company release ↗). This valuation already reflects these results (researched Oct 23, 2026).

Revenue$26.0B
Operating income$3.55B13.7% margin
Net income$2.40B
Diluted EPS$4.27
SegmentRevenuevs a year agoOperating incomeMargin
Retail Home Improvement$24.0B+0.8%$3.55B14.8%
Other businesses$1.94B+1307%$3M0.2%
  • Comparable sales +0.2%; online sales +15.7%.
  • Consolidated sales +8.3%, driven largely by acquisition consolidation.
  • GAAP margin 13.67%; FY2026 margin outlook 11.2%.

What each business is worth

BusinessModelFY2030 revenueValue todayPer share2030 multipleValue from beyond FY2030
Retail Home ImprovementMargin$91B$173B$308.7014.3× EBIT68%
Other businesses · FBM and ADGMargin$8.6B$0.6B$0.9910.5× EBIT84%
All businesses$99B$174B$309.69

From 2030 back to today

  1. Enterprise value at end of FY2030$189B
  2. Less net debt at FY2030$16B
  3. Equity value at FY2030$173B
  4. ÷ (1 + 8.86%)^3.5 years at the cost of equity$128B
  5. + dividends paid on the way, discounted$8.2B

This reconciliation checks the published Signal Ledger valuation against the net-debt path. The difference is 2.2%, inside our 5% tolerance.

From businesses to one share

  1. All businesses, valued today$174B
  2. − borrowings$38B
  3. − finance leases$0B
  4. + cash and short-term investments$3.4B
  5. ÷ diluted shares0.561B
  6. Signal Ledger valuation$248.82

Year by year to FY2030

Fiscal yearRevenueEBITDACapexFree cash flowNet debt at year end
FY2027$92B$13B$2.5B$7.6B$32B
FY2028$94B$14B$2.6B$8.3B$28B
FY2029$97B$15B$2.6B$9.1B$22B
FY2030$99B$16B$2.7B$9.8B$16B

What must be true

  • Retail Home Improvement grows revenue from $84.1B in FY2027 to $90.8B in FY2030 (1.1×).
  • Other businesses · FBM and ADG grows revenue from $7.9B in FY2027 to $8.6B in FY2030 (1.1×).
  • Retail Home Improvement raises its EBIT margin from 12.3% to 14.5%.
  • Other businesses · FBM and ADG raises its EBIT margin from -0.8% to 0.8%.
  • The company spends $10.4B of capital expenditure through FY2030.
  • Net debt peaks at $34.1B in FY2026 and stays financeable.

What the price implies

At our discount rate, the price assumes less than our research overall: one combination matching $204.37 is about $84.1B of FY2030 sales (a decline of about 0.6% a year from FY2026) with 13.3% GAAP EBIT margin — versus $99.4B and 13.3% GAAP EBIT margin in our research.

At the research price of $204.37 (2026-10-23), the price asks less than our assumptions overall. These are operating requirements at that price, not additional valuations or forecasts.

If sales and margins changed together

Each row matches the same research price at our unchanged discount rate, by scaling every operating line's margin by one common factor. Sales cover margin and capacity lines only; other valuation lines stay fixed. Margins are revenue-weighted within each metric, before separately modeled corporate costs and eliminations. The conclusion uses the row at our research margins when sales alone can match the price, otherwise the solved row needing the least sales growth; this is a trade-off between growth and profitability, not a forecast.

FY2030 sales factorFY2030 salesFY2026–30 CAGRRequired FY2030 marginRequirement
0.85×At research margins$84.1B−0.6%
13.3% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails
1.50×$149B14.6%
7.9% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails
2.00×$198.7B23.2%
6.0% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails
3.00×$298.1B36.3%
4.1% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails

CAGR uses $86.3B of same-scope FY2026 sales from the published model or its sourced research base, over four fiscal years. “Within margin guardrails” checks numeric limits only, not commercial plausibility. Each line and year must stay at or below 50.0% GAAP EBIT and 100% EBITDA, or our research margin where that is higher; capacity EBIT uses the engine's equipment depreciation. Unsolved margins are not extrapolated.

Implied discount rate
8.4%

The WACC that makes model value equal the price, shifting WACC and cost of equity by the same amount. Model: 7.5% WACC · 8.9% cost of equity.

All-business FY2030 sales factor
0.85×

FY2030 revenue would need to reach $84.1B (model: $99.4B) across the margin and capacity businesses. FY1 stays fixed; the sales change ramps to FY2030 and stays at that factor thereafter.

If only one business changed

Businesses with margin or capacity revenue paths, ordered by value today. Revenue and margin are separate alternatives; these requirements are not added together.

Retail Home Improvement

Revenue alone
FY2030 revenue would need to reach $77.4B (model: $90.8B).
Margin alone

FY2030 EBIT margin would need to reach 12.4% (model: 14.5%).

Other businesses · FBM and ADG

Revenue alone
This business alone cannot get there within the search range.
Margin alone
This business alone cannot get there within the search range.

Mechanical requirements, not forecasts. The separate sales-only and single-business factors are searched from 0.1× to 6×; an unsolved comparison means this business alone cannot get there within those bounds. Single-business revenue changes apply from FY2 onward; margin changes scale the full EBIT or EBITDA margin path. Mixed groups show revenue-weighted EBIT and EBITDA margins separately. Requirements above 100% are not feasible margins. Joint rows instead search non-negative uniform margin factors only up to the EBIT/EBITDA guardrails; the entire margin path scales, including post-FY2030 convergence. Sales and margins change together only in that table. The rate search runs from the largest terminal growth rate plus 0.5 percentage points to 30% WACC.

The discount rate

Cost of equity
8.86%

r_f 3.87% (5-year average 10-year Treasury yield 3.87% (spot 5.13% on 2026-10-21)) + β 1.00 = 0.8 floor relevered for debt/equity 0.33 (§4.5 leverage rule) × 5%, rounded to 0.01% (1bp)

WACC
7.47%

methodology §4.5: market-weighted WACC, not rounded

10-year Treasury · model / spot
3.87% · 5.13%

The model uses the recorded 5-year average Treasury yield. The spot yield is shown for context.

Every input, with its source

Show 18 inputs · reported, guidance and rule-based
InputValueBasisWhy
Revenue FY2027Retail Home Improvement$84.1BGuidancetarget (methodology §4.2), growth 0.0% stockanalysis.com ↗
Revenue FY2030Retail Home Improvement$90.8BGuidancehold moderate (methodology §4.2), growth 2.6% stockanalysis.com ↗
EBIT margin FY2030Retail Home Improvement14.5%Guidancelinear path to 14.5% by FY2030 (management target) stockanalysis.com ↗
Maintenance capexRetail Home Improvement2.7%Guidance$2.5B FY2026 capex ceiling / $92B sales; intensity held thereafter as a research assumption. sec.gov ↗
Terminal growthRetail Home Improvement2.0%Rulemethodology §4.2 terminal growth for a mature line Valuation methodology §4.2 · Read methodology ↗
Revenue FY2027Other businesses · FBM and ADG$7.9BRuletarget (methodology §4.2), growth 258.8% stockanalysis.com ↗
Revenue FY2030Other businesses · FBM and ADG$8.6BGuidancehold moderate (methodology §4.2), growth 2.6% stockanalysis.com ↗
EBIT margin FY2030Other businesses · FBM and ADG0.8%Rulelinear path to 0.8% by FY2030 (§4.3 E2: 4.0000 points = 4pp × clamp((CAGR − 1.5%) / 2%, 0, 1); revenue CAGR 40.3% to FY2030; no cited expansion evidence) sec.gov ↗
Maintenance capexOther businesses · FBM and ADG2.7%Guidance$2.5B FY2026 capex ceiling / $92B sales; intensity held thereafter as a research assumption. sec.gov ↗
Terminal growthOther businesses · FBM and ADG2.0%Rulemethodology §4.2 terminal growth for a mature line Valuation methodology §4.2 · Read methodology ↗
WACCDiscount rates7.47%Rulemethodology §4.5: market-weighted WACC, not rounded FRED DGS10 2021-10-20..2026-10-21
Cost of equityDiscount rates8.86%Ruler_f 3.87% (5-year average 10-year Treasury yield 3.87% (spot 5.13% on 2026-10-21)) + β 1.00 = 0.8 floor relevered for debt/equity 0.33 (§4.5 leverage rule) × 5%, rounded to 0.01% (1bp) 60 monthly returns vs SPY, 2021-09..2026-09 (adjusted closes)
Tax rateDiscount rates24.5%GuidanceLatest management effective-tax-rate outlook, midpoint where a range. sec.gov ↗
Cash and short-term investmentsBalance sheet$3.4BReportedcash, cash equivalents and short-term investments; use consolidated short-term investment total once, including all security classes sec.gov ↗
BorrowingsBalance sheet$37.6BReportedborrowings due within a year plus long-term borrowings us-gaap:LongTermDebtAndCapitalLeaseObligationsCurrent · 0000060667-26-000117 + us-gaap:LongTermDebtAndCapitalLeaseObligations · 0000060667-26-000117
Finance leasesBalance sheet$0.0BReportedfinance leases not separately tagged; retained inside combined debt, with no additional lease deduction balance sheet 2026-07-31
SharesBalance sheet0.561BReportedshares outstanding as of 2026-08-25 cover page of 10-Q 0000060667-26-000117
Dividends per yearShareholders$2.7BReportedPrior complete-year $4.75 minus first-half prior-year $2.35 plus current H1 declared $2.45 = $4.85 trailing declared dividends. × 0.561B shares sec.gov ↗ · sec.gov ↗

Research notes

  • share-count comparison: 0.56B quarter 2026-05-02..2026-07-31 · 0000060667-26-000117; point-in-time denominator retained
  • cost of equity 8.86% (β 1.00 = 0.8 floor relevered for debt/equity 0.33 (§4.5 leverage rule)), WACC 7.5%
  • §4.5 leverage: D/E 0.328, net debt/EBITDA 2.77, β_lev 0.998, β 0.920 → 0.998; D $37.56B, E $114.66B, cash $3.41B, base EBITDA $12.35B
  • Other businesses · FBM and ADG: terminal value is 84% of value

Signal Ledger research built from cited consensus, company plans and peer economics because management sets no usable targets — not a forecast and not investment advice. The research desk (GPT-6.1 (Codex)) gathers filings, guidance and targets; deterministic code applies the samepublished rules to every company and checks the result. Inputs may contain errors; follow the source links before relying on them. Read our valuation methodology →