Lowe`s (LOW) and Home Depot (HD): Oppenheimer’s Concerns About Near-Term Future

Shares of Lowe`s Companies Inc (NYSE: LOW) and Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) have been performing well since March when the Covid-19 pandemic started picking up the pace in North America as well as around the world. Analysts at Oppenheimer have concerns about the near-term future of both red-hot retail stocks and have the stocks.

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On CNBC’s ‘The Exchange‘ show, the firm’s senior analyst Brian Nagel said said that the stocks are due for a post-pandemic reset after their recent sales surge. His firm lowered its price target for Home Depot and Lowe’s and changed their ratings to perform from outperform. Home Depot’s price target was lowered to $305 from $320 and Lowe’s to $180 from $185.

The stocks have risen sharply since March as people were forced to stay indoors and work from their homes – this created a strong demand for home improvement projects. Now, Oppenheimer believes that the recent surge in sales is due for a correction.

However, Oppenheimer’s long-term view on both Home Depot and Lowe’s is favorable. According to Nagel, their intermediate- to longer-term view on both stocks remains unchanged.

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) saw a decrease in hedge fund interest in the second half of this year. The stock was in 85 funds’ portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2020, versus 87 with HD holdings at the end of March. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) was in 71 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2020, versus 77 funds holding LOW positions at the end of the previous quarter. Meanwhile, according to our calculations, both HD and LOW aren’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.