Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos. stocks lost ground Monday after Oppenheimer downgraded the two construction-material and hardware giants to perform from outperform and cut their target prices.
Upcoming initial 2024 guidance from Home Depot and Lowe’s “could prove unfavorable catalysts for shares.”
Home Depot is due to release its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 20, followed by Lowe’s on Feb. 28.
Home Depot’s stock
HD,
ended the session with a drop of 1.6%, while Lowe’s
LOW,
retreated by about 0.1%.
Oppenheimer analyst Brian Nagel cut Home Depot’s price target to $345 a share from $360, and reduced his target for Lowe’s to $230 from $275.
“We assume a more cautious, near-term stance towards home improvement retail,” Nagel said in a research note. “We are fretting that shorter-term market positioning towards HD and LOW is turning too complacent and that shares might not discount adequately for potential persistent fundamental weakness at the chains.”
Oppenheimer’s Nagel remains bullish on longer-term prospects for the sector because “structural underpinnings of home improvement retail remain intact.”
Upcoming initial 2024 guidance from HD, LOW could prove unfavorable catalysts for shares, analysts said.
“Investors looking to play prospects for strengthening trends in the sector, and at HD and LOW, beginning later in 2024, are likely to be presented better entry points, in coming weeks and months,” Nagel said.
Home Depot’s stock had risen 14.9% in the past year. The stock is one of 30 that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
which is up about 13.5% in the past year, before to Monday’s trades.
Lowe’s stock has fallen 1.1% in the past year, compared to a 21.8% increase by the S&P 500
SPX.
Also read: Buy Home Depot’s stock because the housing market is bottoming, analyst says
