3 Top Stock Picks of Billionaire Bill Ackman

2. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 53  

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States and internationally. According to regulatory filings, Pershing Square owned 10.2 million shares in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) at the end of June 2022 worth $1.7 billion, representing 23.89% of the portfolio. 

On August 18, Truist analyst Scot Ciccarelli maintained a Buy rating on Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) stock and raised the price target to $263 from $237, appreciating the second quarter earnings results of the firm. 

At the end of the second quarter of 2022, 53 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $4.9 billion in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW), compared to 65 in the previous quarter worth $5.5 billion.

In its Q4 2021 investor letter, Pershing Square Capital Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) is a high-quality business with significant long-term earnings growth potential

Supportive macroeconomic backdrop

• Aging housing stock, lack of new inventory, robust home equity values, and unprecedented pro project backlog
• COVID-19 causing millennials to enter the housing market

Positioned to grow EPS largely independent of market conditions

• Idiosyncratic revenue opportunities driving share gains 

• Self-help initiatives catalyzing operating margin expansion

• Buybacks representing ~8% of current market capitalization planned for 2022 (…read more)”