Lowe’s

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Housebound Americans lavished billions on their homes last year at stores such as Lowe’s, setting up home offices and getting around to the small projects they suddenly had ample time for. Lowe’s sales rose 24.2% to just under $90 billion on that macro tailwind, narrowing its performance gap with rival Home Depot. The home improvement giant also helped itself with a vastly improved e-commerce site and savvy merchandising moves, such as stocking a wider assortment of holiday season goods like exercise bikes. While the home spending boom could ease this year, Lowe’s is redoubling its efforts to win more business from contractors who do larger projects.