Lowe’s (LOW, $100.40) identifies three key...

Indra Bhattacharjee

published in Blogs

Mar 12, 2019

Lowe’s (LOW, $100.40) identifies three key areas to upgrade business performance

In an ever-changing retail landscape, home improvement giant Lowe’s Companies (LOW) managed to deliver impressive Q4 result that saw its sales grow to $15.6 billion, a 1% y-o-y increase, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rising to $0.80, an 8.1% y-o-y increase. However, this is not a definitive success as the company still has to figure out how to stay relevant in the changing demand landscape.

CEO Marvin Ellison has identified three key areas that must be improved for an overall success: taking care of the Pros, taking care of the digital sales, and finally taking care of delivery.

In the retail industry, Pro customers are defined as those in the construction trades or the maintenance, repair, and operations industry. These customers are more important as they make more frequent and expensive visits versus DIY customers working on weekend projects. Capturing a sizeable share of its Pro customer market is key to Lowe’s future performance. For this, the company has planned to dedicate loaders to exclusively serve Pro customers, so any bulky products they purchase can be loaded quickly and efficiently at the store.

Although Lowe’s online sales rose 11% y-o-y in Q4, it is still lower than Home Depot’s (HD) online sales which rose 24% in the same period. To address this problem, Lowe’s plans to make their website more user-friendly, to place associates online and to work more intimately with vendors to enable better product selection.

Finally, Ellison acknowledged the need to upgrade its delivery and logistics infrastructure. The company is currently planning to develop a network of distribution centers and systems that will centrally help to manage bulk deliveries to customers’ homes and job sites more efficiently. The company just opened its first direct fulfillment center and has plans to open a second on the West Coast.

Related Tickers: LOW

Sergey Savastiouk

published in Blogs

Mar 07, 2021

4 Tricks Hedge Funds Use to Get Ahead

If the stock market were Major League Baseball, hedge funds and institutional investors would be the pros on championship teams while everyday self-directed investors (SDIs) are the benchwarmers in the minors.It’s how they get ahead, and it’s why 90% of SDIs lose money trying to play (invest and trade) in the major leagues. The 4 tricks we discuss below are rooted in one common theme: they all use Artificial Intelligence and algorithms to generate data and ideas.

John Jacques

published in Blogs

Mar 22, 2018

A.I. Stock Market Predictions: Head & Shoulders

Statistics for the Head-and-Shoulders Bottom Pattern The days where only hedge funds used algorithms to trade stocks are officially over. Now retail investors can use Artificial Intelligence (A.I. Here’s an example of the algorithm in action: Late last year, Tickeron’s A.I.

Sergey Savastiouk

published in Blogs

Jul 10, 2020

3 Stocks to Buy if Coronavirus Second Wave Hits

By analyzing market trends from the first wave, you can predict behavior for the second. Technology stocks have performed at historic levels this year, but the market is severely overbought.To compensate for that, look at performance during Q1 and Q2, the height of global Covid shutdowns.

Edward Flores

published in Blogs

Feb 06, 2021

How to Become the Millionaire Next Door

The Golden Gate Bridge is always a fixture of these walks too, one of man's most beautiful creations. As we were walking, at one point she turned to me and said, "Man, I'll never have a million dollars."" My girlfriend is 27 years old and works as a graphic designer, making about $75,000 a year.

Alla Petriaieva

published in Blogs

Feb 23, 2021

Is Ethereum’s Bomb about to Explode?

Ethereum’s software is set for an update in October.Until it is finished, participants in the Ethereum blockchain must determine how to delay the difficulty bomb – code that necessitates a steadily increasing amount of computer power to mine blocks and unlock rewards – that is already in place.

Sergey Savastiouk

published in Blogs

Aug 07, 2018

When Is the Next Recession Coming?

However, we also know that economists predicted 22 recessions out of 11 that took place since 1945. Are there real recession signs we should watch for?Indeed, the answer is yes, and here are a few very important ones: The first one is almost obvious and known to everyone – it is the Fed.

Abhoy Sarkar

published in Blogs

May 22, 2020

Central banks have been buying $2.4 billion in assets every hour for the past two months

Some $17.8 billion has been poured into bond markets over the past week, the biggest move in more than three months.Around $3.5 billion has been invested into gold, the second largest on record.

Rick Pendergraft

published in Blogs

Feb 07, 2021

Mid-January Short Interest Report Shows 8 Stocks with Good Fundamentals and High Short Interest

Sergey Savastiouk

published in Blogs

Mar 10, 2021

How to Start Trading Penny Stocks

Penny stocks have long been marginalized within the professional investment community, oftentimes being painted with a broad brush of simply being “too risky.” Leonardo DiCaprio’s depiction of the penny stock peddling conman, Jordan Belfort, in the Wolf of Wall Street certainly didn’t help.Here are four reasons to start trading them now. Reason #1: Let’s State the Obvious -- Penny Stocks are Cheap A single share of Apple Inc. costs over $350.

Abhoy Sarkar

published in Blogs

May 08, 2020

US unemployment rate jumps to 14.7%, the highest in series history

The U.S. economy’s employment fell by -20.5 million in April. The coronavirus crisis led to unemployment rate soaring to 14.7% in the U.S, the highest rate in the Bureau of Labor Statistics-tracked series history that goes back to 1948. However, the figures were better compared to several economists'/analysts' forecasts of 22 million job losses and 16% unemployment rate. Another unemployment measure that includes those who have stopped looking for work as well as those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons also touched an all-time high of 22.8%.