1. Does Lowe’s hold more or less inventory than The Home Depot at the end of Fiscal 2016?

2. What method does Lowe’s use to determine the cost of the majority of its inventory? Comment on how this affects comparisons you might make between Lowe’s and The Home Depot’s inventory turnover ratios.

3. Compute to one decimal place Lowe’s inventory turnover ratio and days to sell for Fiscal 2016, and compare to The Home Depot’s. What does this analysis suggest to you?

Refer to the financial statements of The Home Depot in Appendix A and Lowe’s in Appendix B at the end of this book. (Note: Fiscal 2016 for The Home Depot runs from February 1, 2016, to January 29, 2017. Fiscal 2016 for Lowe’s runs from January 30, 2016, to February 3, 2017.)