Sifting through countless of stocks in the Specialty Retail industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc.

Five Below, Inc. operates as a specialty value retailer in the United States. It offers socks, jewelry, hair accessories, cozy loungewear, and t-shirts, as well as personal care essentials, skincare, fragrance, and branded cosmetics; and personalized living space products, such as lamps, posters, frames, fleece blankets, plush items, pillows, candles, incense, lighting, novelty décor, accent furniture, and related items, as well as provides storage options. The company also provides assortment of sport balls, team sports merchandise, and fitness accessories, including hand weights, jump ropes and gym balls; various games, such as board games, puzzles, collectibles, and toys; and summer season sports, which include pool, beach, and outdoor toys, as well as games and accessories. In addition, it offers accessories for cell phones, tablets, audio, computers, and automobiles, as well as cases, chargers, cables, headphones, and other related items; and products for audio, gaming, and gadgets. Further, the company provides assortment of craft activity kits, and arts and crafts supplies, such as crayons, markers, and stickers; and school products comprising backpacks, fashion notebooks and journals, novelty pens and pencils, and locker accessories. Additionally, it offers party goods, decorations, gag gifts, and greeting cards, as well as every day and special occasion merchandise; assortment of classic and novelty candy bars, movie-size box candy, seasonal-related candy, and gum and snack food products, as well as sells chilled drinks through coolers; and provides seasonally specific items used to celebrate and decorate for events. The company was formerly known as Cheap Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Five Below, Inc. in August 2002. Five Below, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Lowe's Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States. It provides a line of products for construction, maintenance, repair, remodeling, and decorating. The company also offers home improvement products, such as appliances, seasonal and outdoor living, lumber, lawn and garden, kitchens and bath, hardware, building materials, millwork, paint, rough plumbing, tools, electrical, flooring, and décor. In addition, it offers installation services through independent contractors in various product categories; and extended protection plans and repair services. The company sells its national brand-name merchandise and private brand products to professional customers, individual homeowners, and renters. The company also sells its products through Lowes.com website, as well as through mobile applications. Further, it provides design, distribution, and installation services for interior surface finishes to home builders and property managers. Lowe's Companies, Inc. was founded in 1921 and is based in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Latest Specialty Retail and Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies, Inc. Stock News

As of December 11, 2025, Five Below, Inc. had a $10.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Specialty Retail median of $876.7 million. Five Below, Inc.’s stock is up 74.7% in 2025, up 5.9% in the previous five trading days and up 62.08% in the past year.

Currently, Five Below, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 32.6. Five Below, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $4.4 billion with a 7.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 23.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.919 per share for the current fiscal year. Five Below, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

As of December 11, 2025, Lowe's Companies, Inc. had a $139.2 billion market cap, putting it in the 98th percentile of all stocks. Lowe's Companies, Inc.’s stock is up 0.2% in 2025, down 0.5% in the previous five trading days and down 9.51% in the past year.

Currently, Lowe's Companies, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 20.6. Lowe's Companies, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $84.3 billion with a 8.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 3.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $12.263 per share for the current fiscal year. Lowe's Companies, Inc. currently has a 1.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Five Below, Inc.	FIVE	B
Lowe's Companies, Inc.	LOW	C

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Five Below, Inc. has a Growth Score of 70, which is Strong. Lowe's Companies, Inc. has a Growth Score of 60, which is Average.

The Growth Grade Winner: Five Below, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Five Below, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Lowe's Companies, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Five Below, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Five Below, Inc.	FIVE	B
Lowe's Companies, Inc.	LOW	B

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Five Below, Inc. has a Quality Score of 77, which is Strong. Lowe's Companies, Inc. has a Quality Score of 78, which is Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc. have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Five Below, Inc.	FIVE	A
Lowe's Companies, Inc.	LOW	D

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Five Below, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 87, which is Very Strong. Lowe's Companies, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 33, which is Weak.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Five Below, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Five Below, Inc. is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Lowe's Companies, Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Five Below, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc. Grades

In addition to Growth, Momentum and Quality, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Estimate Revisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Five Below, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 70, Momentum Score of 87 and Quality Score of 77.

Lowe's Companies, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 60, Momentum Score of 33 and Quality Score of 78.

Comparing Five Below, Inc., Lowe's Companies and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.