Lowe's, Home Depot Keep Taking Hits

Both Lowe’s and Home Depot reported their second quarters this week, and there weren’t many surprises.Lowe’s experienced a same-store sales drop of 5.3% year over year, while Home Depot posted a 7.9% slide, due to continued weakness in the housing market. Additionally, Lowe’s earnings per diluted share were down 4.5%, and Home Depot’s fell 7.8%. Though it is the smaller chain, with 1,575 units compared to Home Depot’s 2,257, Lowe’s is still growing, with plans to open 120 new locations this year. Meanwhile, Home Depot announced earlier this year it would call off 50 future openings, now only planning 55.Is there anything these mega chains can do to combat problems in the economy? Or are their business models as such that little can be done at their huge stores, and they’re just going to have to wait it out?