Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE:LOW)
On Wednesday before the market opened, Lowe’s announced first-quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates and gave shares a boost in the pre-market session. The home improvement company announced earnings per share of 98 cents on $15.23 billion while analysts were looking for 85 cents per share on $14.87 billion in revenues. This compares to the same period ending last year when the company posted earnings per share of 70 cents on $14.13 billion in revenues. LOW also stated that same-store sales rose by 7.5% for the first quarter topping analyst estimates of 4.7%. Currently analysts have an average price target of $83.96.
Looking at the chart you will see that shares got a nice bump in the pre-market session with highs hitting $78.35 after closing Tuesday at $76.07, a 2.9% jump in price. Shares made it over a big hurtle by getting over the big $78 level and ideally we will want to see them hold this to confirm the strength of this move but if shares open lower then it could act as a strong resistance level. Look for support to come in at $77.63 followed by $76. Shares are trading well above their 200-day moving average that is currently sitting at $72.40 and have recently made a nice bounce off $63 a couple months back. Shares have traded in a tight range between the $77 and $75 levels the past month but are looking to break it with this fresh news catalyst on the wire. After yesterdays selloff in the SPY (NYSE:SPY), we will want to be careful taking a long position above $78 but there should be plenty of volume and volatility to take create some good trading opportunities so we’ll just have to time our entries so we don’t over pay.
CEO Comments
We executed well in the quarter, growing both transaction and average ticket to achieve comparable sales growth that exceeded our expectations,” commented Robert A. Niblock, Lowe’s chairman, president and CEO. “We continued to focus on providing better omni-channel customer experiences, and saw strength in indoor as well as outdoor categories.
Our team’s project expertise and commitment to customer service allowed us to capitalize on strong home improvement demand during the quarter, and I would like to thank them for their efforts, Niblock added.
LOW Profile
Lowe’s is a home improvement retailer. The Company operates approximately 1,860 home improvement and hardware stores, representing approximately 200 million square feet of retail selling space. The Company serves homeowners, renters and professional customers (Pro customers). The Company’s retail customers, consists of individual homeowners and renters, a range of projects. The Pro customer consists of approximately two categories, such as construction trades, and maintenance, repair and operations. The Company’s home improvement store carries a selection of national brand-name merchandise.
By Sean V