Citi Reiterates Buy Rating On HD

Citi hosted “upbeat” meetings with The Home Depot, Inc. HD management, after which it announced that it is reiterating its Buy rating on the company. “Management remains confident that it can achieve its positive LSD SSS plan in 2011, and we believe upside to comps could be driven by a rebound in the housing market, market share gains, and improvement in HD's Pro business (4% of customers and 30% of sales), which has shown signs of life recently,” Citi writes. “The company also has many levers to pull to drive margin improvement, and we believe HD could exceed its guidance for a 10% EBIT margin by 2013 (our estimate is 10.8% in 2013).” Home Depot closed Tuesday at $36.29.