Wedbush Downgrades Lowe's, Believes Best Days Of The Housing Cycle Are Behind Us

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Wedbush downgraded Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW to Neutral from Outperform citing limited room for expansion as it believes the best days of housing are likely gone.

Citing various data points, the brokerage expects modest slowdown in underlying home improvement sales growth ahead, while weaker consumer confidence would pressure near-term trends.

“At the same time, LOW’s operational and merchandising momentum may have slowed, making it challenging to close the comp and margin gap with Home Depot Inc HD, which we believe is key for relative share price outperformance,” analyst Seth Basham wrote in a note.

Meanwhile, the analyst pointed out underwhelming earnings reports from competitors such as Tractor Supply Company, and home improvement suppliers such as Whirlpool, Masco Corp and Sherwin-Williams.

Accordingly, Basham cut his 2016/2017 EPS estimates to $3.97/$4.61 from $4.02/$4.78 and revenue estimates to $67.74 billion/$68.25 billion from $64.96 billion/$68.59 billion. The revised forecast is below consensus estimate of $4.02/$64.89 billion for 2016 and $4.71/$68.46 billion.

The analyst also slashed his price target to $73 from $84.

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Posted In: Analyst ColorDowngradesPrice TargetAnalyst RatingsReal EstateSeth BashamWedbush Securities
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