Piper Jaffray Previews Q1 Numbers On HD

Piper Jaffray is maintaining its Neutral rating and its $38 price target on The Home Depot HD based upon predicted results in the company's Q1. Says Piper Jaffray, in its report, “We are maintaining our Q1E EPS of $0.50 (vs. consensus of ~$0.50) and our comp estimate of +1% vs. consensus of ~+0.7%. Similar to LOW, our proprietary satellite data further enforces our belief that the monthly traffic trends appear to have deteriorated from February to April. We also believe that persistent negative trends in housing, unemployment and one-time benefits associated with the first time homebuyer tax credit and cash for appliances will likely continue to be headwinds in Q2.” HD closed at $37.23 yesterday.