Lowe's climb can continue on strong home-building dataIntroduction
Strong upward momentum for Lowe's has been slowing lately along with the rest of the market. However, I think the upward march for this stock can continue for both fundamental and technical reasons.
Fundamentals
Like nearly every other stock in this market, Lowe's is trading at a higher multiple than the stock has traditionally traded at. Unlike nearly every other stock in the market, the Lowe's multiple is actually justified by the prospect of future growth. Fidelity and Zack's both calculate the PEG ratio on Lowe's to be close to 1, which is fair value. Most stocks are trading at PEG ratios between 2 and 8 right now, making Lowe's one of the most attractively priced stocks I've seen lately.
Lowe's boasts strong ratings from analysts, including a 9.2/10 Equity Starmine Summary Score, a 74/100 valuation score from S&P Global, and a "Leader" ranking for corporate governance from MSCI. Options traders are more bullish than bearish on the stock for both the short and long term.
Perhaps more importantly, Lowe's is sitting in an extremely strong sector. Today, mortgage applications data beat by a wide margin. Business spending data shows home building supply as one of the only sectors in strong expansion, with investment up 20% YoY. Homebuilder Taylor Morrison posted 24% sales growth with a large order backlog. Consumers have spent the pandemic doing home renovations, and as a result, economic data for the sector have consistently surprised to the upside.
In the medium term, the big risk for this sector is that mortgage forbearance will expire, houses will go into foreclosure, and real estate prices will collapse. That's currently scheduled to happen on August 31, but there's been talk in Congress of extending forbearance until sometime next year. Currently more than 8.5% of mortgages are in forbearance, so this is a potential residential real estate apocalypse if Congress doesn't pass an extension. If you take this trade, keep a close eye on what happens with that expiration date.
Technicals
Note the hidden divergence I highlighted on the chart, with the MACD making a lower low as the price made a higher low. However, it's also important to note that Lowe's today has dipped below its 3-month trend line, albeit not with any conviction or volume. I've taken a small nibble here to satisfy my FOMO, and set an alert to buy more near the volume support at $130.30. I may look at buying a call option for the end of August, since Lowe's reports earnings on August 18.
