Lowe’s Cos. Inc. took a deep dive into where customers spend their time while shopping their stores and identified three areas to focus for social-distancing purposes: checkout, the outside garden and the paint counter. Like all retailers, Lowe’s (LOW)  is putting protocols in place to better protect workers and customers from the spread of the coronavirus. Lowe’s took an even closer look at its stores to come up with its policies and made adjustments in these three areas.

Stifel’s John Baugh raised his rating on Lowe’s to Buy from Hold and his price target to $149 from $94, citing a more than 20% increase in same-store sales in April.

Tim Rood, Former Fannie Mae Executive and SitusAMC Managing Director, joins Yahoo Finance’s Seana Smith to break down April existing home sales data.

Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Nasdaq has a gain of 3.92% for the year Continue reading...

Lowe's same-store sales easily bested expectations and grew over the quarter Continue reading...

Is the e-commerce and cloud giant a better overall investment than the resilient home improvement retailer?

Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) announces that David M. Denton, chief financial officer, will present at the Baird Global Consumer, Technology and Services Virtual Conference.

Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre joins Jen Rogers to break down the day's price action in stocks as well as a long in Lowe's Companies (LOW), a Yahoo Finance Premium Investment Idea. (Sign up for a free 14-day trial at yahoofinance.com.)

It’s another risk-on day on Wall Street. Shares of the most economically-sensitive firms were rallying, while many of the coronavirus market’s biggest winners were in the red on Wednesday.

Americans began the lockdown by hoarding toilet paper, sweat pants, and puzzles. Now, with Memorial Day around the corner, it’s bicycles, boats, and inflatable pools.

Lowe’s reported earnings and sales that beat expectations. Home Depot sales beat expectations, but profit fell short.

Yahoo Finance chats with Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner about the state of the world's large retailer amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The home improvement retailer reported better-than-expected results in its earnings report released on May 20.

Tractor Supply is forecasting better-than-expected second-quarter sales and earnings, sending shares higher.

Big-box chains will gobble up even more business from struggling smaller chains. That bodes well for their shares.

Do-it-yourself home improvement retail rivals Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) reported first-quarter results last week. Here's how some of the Street's top analysts reacted to the reports.The Home Depot Analysts Piper Sandler analyst Peter Keith maintained a Neutral rating on Home Depot, price target lifted from $231 to $244.BofA Securities analyst Elizabeth Suzuki maintained at Neutral, price target lifted from $238 to $250.Raymond James analyst Matthew McClintock maintained at Outperform, price target lifted from $245 to $250.Piper Sandler's Key Takeaways On Home Depot Home Depot reported a "strong" first-quarter report, highlighted by a comp growth beat of 6.4%, while comps accelerated to double-digits in May, Keith said in a note.The company saw some incremental expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also showed strong underlying expense leverage, the analyst said. Looking forward, Home Depot doesn't expect to report negative comps in any quarter in 2020 as it benefits from consumers spending less money on restaurants, travel and entertainment, he said. Piper Sandler's revised $244 price target is based on expectations for the company to establish itself as a beneficiary of increasing spending on home categories, even if the U.S. remains in a recession for the rest of the year, Keith said.A Neutral stance remains in place for valuation reasons, according to Piper Sandler. BofA Says Home Depot's Strong Comps Won't Last Home Depot's comp growth of 6.4% in the first quarter exceeded expectations of 5% as average ticket rose 11%, Suzuki said in a note. The company likely benefited from consumers "being stuck at home" and spending money on home improvement projects, the analyst said. Some of the purchases were likely pulled forward as more consumers return to work in the second and third quarters and any stimulus benefits will "wear off," she said.The expectations for momentum seen in the first quarter are not likely to last moving forward, according to BofA. Raymond James: Doing More In A 'Tough Environment'Home Depot deserves credit for shifting a business of its size to serve customer needs, such as contactless curbside pickup, McClintock said in a note. The company is also heavily focusing on digital, and this will serve as a competitive advantage moving forward, the analyst said. The retailer did a good job at managing its expenses while simultaneously investing "aggressively" in its One Home Depot strategic initiatives and its workers, he said. "Bigger picture, we believe HD is well positioned to outperform in what will likely be a tough environment over the next several quarters, and has a large share gain opportunity longer-term as independents fall by the wayside." View more earnings on HDRelated Link: Walmart Earnings Look Strong Across the Board, But Home Depot Down After Missing on EPSThe Lowe's Analysts BofA Securities analyst Elizabeth Suzuki maintained at Buy, price target lifted from $137 to $143.KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Bradley Thomas maintained at Overweight, price target lifted from $125 to $130.BofA: 5 Reasons To Own The Stock Exiting Lowe's first-quarter report, there are five reasons to own the stock, Suzuki said in a note.These include:1\. There was "a lot to like" in the report, including an EPS beat, comp growth of 11.2% versus the Street's estimate of 4.1% and operating margin expansion of 206 basis points.2\. Lowe's has superior exposure to the do-it-yourself customer, who represents 75% to 80% of total sales versus Home Depot's 40% to 45%. By comparison, the Pro market was negatively impacted by social distancing requirements.3\. The online business saw an 80% year-over-year sales growth and it has plenty of room to continue expanding off its current low base.4\. Incremental COVID-related costs won't disrupt the long-term margin story after Lowe's already eliminated underperforming assets and made other strategic moves.5\. Demand for renovation products should remain a trend for the coming years.Lowe's Has Sustainable Momentum, KeyBanc Says Lowe's first-quarter momentum sustained into May, with a double-digit comp across all regions, Thomas said in a note.The retailer did choose to withdraw its outlook, although it kept a confident tone in its ability to improve gross margins and continue SG&A leverage, the analyst said. The company is considered to be "one of the strongest retailers" within KeyBanc's coverage given a compelling "self-help story" under CEO Marvin Ellison, he said. "We believe shares are compelling given the fundamental growth opportunity for the Company, and expect shares to see multiple expansion if execution continues to improve." Related Link: PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Lowe's CompaniesLatest Ratings for HD DateFirmActionFromTo May 2020Morgan StanleyMaintainsOverweight May 2020StifelMaintainsBuy May 2020WedbushMaintainsNeutral View More Analyst Ratings for HD View the Latest Analyst RatingsSee more from Benzinga * Back To The Roots Announces Home Depot Partnership Amid Surge In Interest(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F […]

Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) today announced a 2020 commitment of more than $4.5 million to military organizations that promote workforce development, support affordable housing for veterans and provide COVID-19 relief to first responders, as well as Memorial Day tributes in stores nationwide.

American Century recently released its Q1 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download below. American Century Focused Global Growth Fund posted a return of -16.95% for the quarter, outperforming its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Index which returned -21.37% in the same quarter. You should check out American Century’s top 5 stock picks […]