NEW YORK, July 6 (Reuters) - Shares of home improvement
chain Home Depot rose to a 52-week high on Monday after a
two-for-one stock split that came into effect after the close
of trading on July 2.
The stock was up 2-3/16 at 45-1/16 early Monday afternoon,
after touching a 52-week high at 45-7/16.
"The first thing here is the stock split," said Robert
Thornburg, an analyst who tracks Home Depot's stock at D.A.
Davidson & Co.
"Also, they have been positively mentioned by analysts out
there in the last day or two," Thornburg said. "I think it's
just enthusiasm for the stock."
Alan Rifkin, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, said that apart
from the stock split, Home Depot's fundamentals were very much
intact with same-store sales solidly in the mid-single digits.
The Atlanta-based company operates 660 stores in North America.
"The company remains on track for another very strong
quarter," Rifkin said. "Home Depot is clearly driving the
consolidation that we have witnessed in the industry."
In the July 6 edition of Barron's, Elizabeth Bramwell,
founder of Bramwell Capital Management, named Home Depot among
the eight stocks she views as good investments. She told the
weekly business publication that Home Depot had strong sales
growth potential during the next few years. |
