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Home > Fortune 500 Companies > Lowe's Cos
Lowe's Cos
Lowe's Cos is a publicly traded company having a good stock performance result. Lowe's Cos is a fortune 500 stock listed company trading under LOW. The Lowe's story began in North Carolina more than 60 years ago when H. Carl Buchan, part owner of the North Wilkesboro Hardware Company, envisioned creating a chain of hardware stores. At the time, Lowe’s was a typical, small town hardware store selling everything from overalls and snuff to wash tubs and work boots. Lowe’s even sold horse collars at its first store in downtown North Wilkesboro.
Lowe’s stores then reported serving a new type of customer, do-it-yourself homeowners seeking to improve the value of their properties. Anticipating their needs while still accommodating contractors, Lowe’s began to enlarge its stores and expanded its merchandise offerings.
Lowe's prototype store today is 116,000 retail selling square feet compared with the typical 11,000 square-foot Lowe's stores of the 1980's. Lowe’s stores stock 40,000 products and have another 500,000 items available by special order offering practically everything customers need to build, beautify and enjoy their homes. Lowe’s uses the latest technology to track and order inventory and help customers create solutions for their home improvement projects.
The company went public in 1961, and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1979. During this time, U.S. housing starts soared and professional builders became Lowe's loyal customers, accounting for the majority of Lowe’s business. In 1982, Lowe’s had its first billion-dollar sales year, earning a record profit of 25 million dollars.
2004 was another great year for Lowe’s. Excellent customer service and store-level execution led to 36.5 billion dollars in sales and 2.2 billion dollars in net earnings. Those sales were driven by the addition of 140 new Lowe’s stores in great markets around the U.S. as well as strong 6.6 percent comparable store sales growth. Their goal in 2005 is to ensure they build on that momentum and deliver another year of broad-based sales strength.
Lowe's has been Improving Home Improvement for more than 60 years. In 2005, Lowe's earned several notable industry distinctions including such as Ranked 43 on the FORTUNE 500, Named 2003, 2004 and 2005 ENERGY STAR Retail Partner of the Year. With fiscal year 2005 sales of 43.2 billion dollars, Lowe's Companies which serves approximately 12 million customers a week at more than 1,225 home improvement stores in 49 states.
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