Lowe's will report earnings before the open next Wednesday, May 19
Lowe's Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) has been the recipient of plenty of bullish analyst attention this week, with a little under a week until the company reports its first-quarter earnings before the open on Wednesday, May 19. The stock has received price-target hikes from no less than four brokerage firms throughout the week, and Oppenheimer has jumped on the bandwagon today, upgrading the equity to an "outperform" rating from "perform." The analyst cited the stock's favorable valuation, especially compared to that of direct rival Home Depot (HD).
Lowe's stock is up 1.3% to trade at $198.12, recuperating some of this week's selloff, though the formerly supportive 30-day moving average still looms just above. The stock saw a sharp pullback from its Monday record peak at $215.22, though it does look like the 40-day moving average could contain most of this drop. For the year, LOW is up 21.8%.
Circling back to analyst sentiment, it looks as if the brokerage bunch has been mostly optimistic. Coming into today, 15 of the 21 analysts in coverage considered Lowe's stock a "buy" or better, while six said "hold." The 12-month consensus target price of $219.52 is a 12.3% premium to last night's close.
Option traders have echoed this optimism. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Lowe's stock sports a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.64, which stands higher than 79% of readings from the past 12 months. This suggests calls are being picked up at a much quicker-than-usual clip.