Oppenheimer Maintains Outperform on Lowe's Companies (LOW)

Oppenheimer is out with its report today on Lowe's Companies

, maintaining Outperform. In a note to clients, Oppenheimer writes, "We view the Q1 (April) results that Lowe's reported today as better than the 'headline EPS miss' might suggest. First quarter EPS at LOW were essentially consistent with the prior year's at $0.34 and compare with a Street figure of $0.36. Weaker than planned comps (down 3.3%) more than offset the benefits of continued cost controls and share buybacks. LOW provides few details in its press release. We believe that unfavorable weather later in the quarter largely masked underlying strengthening demand trends at LOW. The shares are likely to trade lower today. We recommend longer-term investors use weakness as a buying opportunity. Our rating on LOW is Outperform." Oppenheimer maintains a $32 PT on LOW. At the time of posting, shares of LOW were trading pre-market at $24.65, down 4.31% from Friday's close.