5 big analyst picks: Lowe's picks up fresh buy rating at Stifel
By Davit Kirakosyan
Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst picks you may have missed since yesterday: upgrades at Lowe's, First Solar, Toast , Constellation Brands, and Semtech.
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Late Wednesday, Stifel started coverage on Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) with a Buy rating and a $270 price target.
The analysts say they believe «the current discount to retail peers undervalues the medium-term growth prospects,» noting that their outlook for a 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) on Lowe's EPS comes in just above consensus.
Stifel also noted that Lowe’s is «in the late innings of executing its Total Home Strategy» — an offering of products and services for pros and consumers — «with the successful performance from 2018-2022 validating the effort.»
The analysts also see the company's overall footprint as an advantage for the company, particularly in terms of its rural exposure. They added:
«Against our tempered view of the 2024 recovery, we believe Lowe’s ability to fully realize the fruits of its efforts should enable a stronger in-market performance supportive of our 2.2% comparable sales growth outlook, the low end of the implied trajectory to achieve $520 per-square foot.»
The new buy rating closely follows Bernstein's Tuesday upgrade of Lowe's to Outperform on expected expansion in the company's operating margins over the coming two years, as well as its «unequivocal» bullishness on the macro-level long-term drivers of home-improvement spending.
Lowe's shares were ticking marginally higher to $229.66 in recent premarket trading.
Morgan Stanley upgraded First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) to Equalweight from Underweight and raised its price target to
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