LESCO

When LESCO sees a golf course or a lawn, it sees green. The company sells fertilizer, grass seed, and turf-protection products used on golf courses and lawns, primarily under the LESCO name, but also under brands such as NOVEX (a longer-acting turf fertilizer). Customers include landscapers, municipalities, and country clubs. Consumable goods (fertilizer, grass seed, herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) account for most of LESCO's sales, but it also sells hard goods like rotary mowers, spreaders, and sprayers. It is a subsidiary of the John Deere Landscapes unit of Deere & Company; that unit sells its products through about 600 service centers and a fleet of 100 tractor-trailer-based stores.