Lowe's (LOW) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Lowe's (LOW) closed the most recent trading day at $233.82, moving +0.89% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.2%.
Heading into today, shares of the home improvement retailer had gained 14.25% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 3.15% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.66% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from LOW as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.27, up 14.65% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $21.55 billion, down 3.41% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.33 per share and revenue of $93.05 billion. These totals would mark changes of +27.88% and +3.85%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for LOW should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.59% higher. LOW is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, LOW is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 20.45. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.48, so we one might conclude that LOW is trading at a premium comparatively.
Also, we should mention that LOW has a PEG ratio of 1.45. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LOW's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.05 as of yesterday's close.
The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 23, putting it in the top 10% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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