Shares of Home Depot (HD 0.74%) are poised for a lift, with upside potential approaching 20%.
At least that's the view of Jefferies Financial Group analyst Randal Konik, who raised his price target on the DIY home repair giant to $269. That was a significant hike, as he had previously flagged it at $228. He maintained his buy rating on Home Depot while doing so.
Konik isn't the only bank analyst moving their price target on Home Depot stock. Wells Fargo prognosticator Zachary Fadem declared a similar boost, upping his projection from $215 to $260 per share. Like his Jefferies peer, Fadem kept his overweight (Wells Fargo-speak for "buy") rating on the stock.
Image source: Home Depot.
These adjustments were made in the run-up to Home Depot's upcoming earnings release. On May 19, the company is scheduled to release its first quarter of fiscal 2020 earnings.
It hasn't provided guidance specifically for the quarter, although in its last earnings release it proffered estimates for the full year -- which, in contrast to many other consumer goods companies, it has not (yet) withdrawn. At the time it anticipated that both net sales and comparable-store sales would rise by 3.5% to 4% on a year-over-year basis, with diluted per-share net profit coming in roughly 2% higher (to $10.45).
Despite Home Depot's optimism and the recent share price target increases, as a group analysts are not expecting a blowout quarter for the company. According to Yahoo! Finance, 25 analysts following the stock are collectively forecasting a slight decline in per-share profit, to $2.26. They believe net sales will see a 3% bump to nearly $27.3 billion.
Home Depot's stock fell marginally on Wednesday, although not as precipitously as the major equity indexes.
