Review and compare the financial statements of two companies

Summary: Review and compare the financial statements and annual reports of The Home Depot and of Lowe’s companies Inc. of fiscal year 2012, in comparison to fiscal 2011, according to the below structure and questions: Analyze the balance sheet of both companies. Write a summary that includes important points about each company that an analyst would use in assessing the financial condition of The Home Depot and of Lowe’s as one of its competitors. Analyze the income statement of The Home Depot and of Lowe’s. Write a summary that includes important points that an analyst would use in assessing the profitability of The Home Depot and of Lowe’s as one of its competitors. Analyze the consolidated statements of cash flows for The Home Depot and for Lowe’s for fiscal years 2012, 2011 and 2010. Write a summary that includes important points that an analyst would use in assessing the companies’ relative abilities to generate cash flows and the appropriateness of the use of cash flows Using data, common size statements, ratio and trend calculations for The Home Depot and Lowe’s, write a comprehensive comparative analysis of the companies over the major areas: Short term liquidity, operating efficiency, capital structure and long term solvency, and profitability. Perform the Dupont analysis and compare variation of The Home Depot and Lowe’s ROE, Return on Equity, as the combined effect of profitability, liquidity, and financial leverage.