Telsey Advisory Group says it’s moving to the sidelines on Home Depot and Lowe’s . Analyst Joseph Feldman downgraded both stocks to market perform from outperform. He maintained his price target for Home Depot Shares at $315 , which implies 4.3% downside from Monday’s close. He also kept his price target on Lowe’s shares at $225, suggesting less than 1% upside from where shares last closed. In two Monday notes, Feldman said he expects the two companies will “experience a slightly steeper slowdown related to the weak housing market trends, [and see] consumers remaining cautious with spending, especially on big ticket items and projects, and continued normalization from the strong COVID-19 and government stimulus related gains from past three years—resulting in our lower 2023 and 2024 financial estimates.” “While the stock[s] likely reflect much of the negative news and challenging operating environment, including a bottoming housing market, we don’t expect [them] to outperform the market in the near term,” Feldman continued. He noted that Home Depot and Lowe’s shares are up approximately 17% and 12% since May 2023, respectively. To be sure, Feldman said he continues to believe that Home Depot and Lowe’s will be share gainers in the long-term. Nonetheless, the analyst said the stocks are not likely to return to outperforming the S & P 500 until the housing market improves and consumers resume larger projects. While the housing market does show signs of reaching some stability, the bottoming phase could still take some time, according to Feldman. Home Depot shares lost 1.7% Tuesday premarket. Shares remain up just 3.3% year to date. Meanwhile, Lowe’s shares also declined 1.4% Tuesday before the bell. The stock has gained more than 12% in 2023. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
