Jefferies: Sales are Better for Lowe's

According to a research report published today by Jefferies, Lowe's LOW sales benefitted this week from nice weather, but the competition stores sales gap with Home Depot HD was wide. “Comp store sales at LOW was 3.4% well below the 6.1% U.S. comp that Home Depot (HD, $46.98, HOLD) reported last week. We were modeling a 1% comp, but after seeing the weather upside in the HD number, our unofficial expectations increased for the LOW comp increased by a few points. The comp store sales gap with HD US business was 270 bps (consistent with recent quarters) and the 2-year average comp widened to 320 bps (it had been running 200 bps),” Jefferies said in the report. Jefferies maintains its Hold rating and $25 PT on Lowe's. Lowe's is currently trading at $27.72, while Home Depot is currently trading at $46.95.