Refer to the financial statements of The Home Depot in Appendix A and Lowes in Appendix B at the end of this book. (Note: Fiscal 2106 for The Home Depot runs from February 1, 2016, to January 29, 2017. Fiscal 2016 for Lowes runs from January 30, 2016, to February 3, 2017. See S1-1 for further explanation of these fiscal periods.)

Required:

1. Was Lowes net income for the year ended February 3, 2017, greater (or less) than The Home Depots?
2. Was Lowes sales revenue for the year ended February 3, 2017, greater (or less) than The Home Depots?
3. Did Lowes have more (or less) inventory than The Home Depot at the end of Fiscal 2016?
4. Did Lowes have more (or less) cash than The Home Depot at the end of Fiscal 2016?
5. What reasons do The Home Depot and Lowes give for choosing such odd dates to end their fiscal years?
6. How many weeks are included in Fiscal 2016 for The Home Depot versus Lowes? If the companies were identical in all other respects, which company would you expect to report a larger amount of sales revenue?