JP Morgan Predicts Positive 2011 For Home Depot

JP Morgan has published a research report on The Home Depot HD under the belief that 2011 is looking very good for the company. In the report, JP Morgan writes "The overall theme of today's conference was that HD is increasingly playing offense. This emerged last year but the company is now clearly taking up its external/customer focus as the initiatives to right the ship internally are firmly entrenched and progress sufficiently made. Management's confidence continues to rise and the stability of the business is driving optimism as HD is no longer swimming upstream. Indeed, while the key focus in prior years' conferences was the merchandising/supply chain transformation, this year's event had the added element of using technology/service to deliver a multi-channel experience to customers and having systems be a competitive advantage (vs. disadvantage previously). The FIRST phone and internal/external social network site usage are clear examples of this change. Moreover, the harvesting of many of the benefits of the transformation will allow HD to solidify its price leadership through more “new lower prices” in upcoming years." JP Morgan maintains its Overweight rating and has raised the price target from $36 to $39. The Home Depot closed yesterday at $34.03.