Dallas, Texas 04/02/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – On April Fool’s day, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) had another analyst firm initiate coverage of its stock. It was the turn of Ameriprise Financial this time to recommend a Buy rating on the stock of this retailing major, which boasts of a market cap of $109 billion. The latest upgrade comes on the back of the firm reporting earnings per share of 73 cents for the quarter ending December 31st. It reported revenue of $17.7 billion for the quarter.
More importantly, the outlook for the firm has gone up many fold in the recent weeks, on the back of sustained increase in the operating tailwinds supporting the firms operations. Analyst consensus pegs earnings per share for the current fiscal to come in at $4.44, which translates to a big increase over its previous year’s earnings.
Ameriprise Financial is not the only firm which has upgraded the stock of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) in recent times. Analysts at Oppenheimer upped the price target on the stock to $93 from pervious recommendation of $86 per share on 14th March.
UBS seems to concur with these assessments. In a research note dated 1st April addressed to its clients, the banking and trading house major has predicted that The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)is one of the few well positioned retail stocks which can earn its share holders good returns in these times of testy waters for those businesses which are directly linked to customer discretion. UBS goes on to explain to its clients, the logic behind its bullishness of the retailing stock. It has been quoted to have said that, “Home Depot Inc. is just about to hit its sweet spot when it comes to the prime selling season. Remodeling tends to pick up as the weather improves, and this year is no exception”
