Better Buy: Costco vs. Lowe's
Costco (NASDAQ: COST) and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) are both large, national retail chains that were deemed essential services and have stayed open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this similarity, they are two very different businesses.
Costco's bread and butter is, well, bread and butter, and other consumer staples (often sold in bulk), while Lowe's product line focus is home improvement. They both sell appliances and some home furnishings, and Costco has a large home improvement section, especially online. While they're not direct competitors, Costco's stores sell a good amount of general home improvement products, but Lowe's is the niche reseller.
Costco's greatest competitive threat doesn't come from its direct rivals: Sam's Club (which is owned by Walmart) and BJ's are much smaller operations. In fact, Costco's biggest competition might be Walmart itself, another large discount chain whose annual net sales totals were almost four times as big as Costco's $149 billion in 2019.
Source Fool.com
