Big boxes, big numbers

Take Home Depot’s fourth-quarter comps — positive 5.7% — add it to Lowe’s fourth-quarter comps — positive 3.4% — and you have the highest combined comp sum in six years. You’d have to go back to the fourth quarter of 2005 for a higher figure (positive 13.3%).

Sales were also a positive story with a 5.9% fourth-quarter increase emanating from Atlanta, and an 11% increase at Lowe’s.

Here is how the sales stacked up across the past two years for the two industry giants: