Stocks have fluctuated in exactly the same way. The Home Depot went up 1.46% during the first week, while Lowe's managed to go even further: 1.74%. The situation was quite the same during the second week: 1.41 for the Home Depot, and 1.11% for Lowe. The upward trend was maintained for three weeks, but the growth ratio was only 0.5-0.57. The fourth week was not so good for the two companies. Stocks went down 0.6% and 0.86%, respectively. The fifth week was not better, as the downward trend continued, but the percentage change was not that significant: 0.5%-0.6%. The stocks are currently at higher levels: $41.06 for Home Depot and $65.22 for Lowe's. Morningstar analysts estimate the fair value of the two stocks at $44 and $62 respectively. References

1. Morningstar Analyst report on the Home Depot www.morningstar.com

2. Morningstar Analyst report on Lowe's www.morningstar.com

3. Information on the business of Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/HDUS/EN_US/corporate/about/about.shtml

Press article http://www.retailnet.com/story.cfm?ID=23316
5. Press article http://www.retailnet.com/story.cfm?ID=23532

6. Information on various key ratios http://210.210.18.114/EnlightenmentorAreas/finance/CFA/leverage.htm

7. Information on various key ratios instruction.bus.wisc.edu/mruckes / fin325_new/files/04HurdleRatesProjects.ppt

8. Yahoo! Finance - finance.yahoo.com

9. Investopedia www.investopedia.com- information regarding the operating margin

10. Information on the DuPont formula beginnersinvest.about.com / od/financialratio/a/aa040505.htm

http://www.homedepot.com/HDUS/EN_US/corporate/about/about.shtml http://www.retailnet.com/story.cfm?ID=23316

http://210.210.18.114/EnlightenmentorAreas/finance/CFA/leverage.htm instruction.bus.wisc.edu/mruckes / fin325_new/files/04HurdleRatesProjects.ppt