Diamonds and Dogs

12/12/18

Lowes reiterates guidance and announces share buyback. The home fixture retailer is up 4% today. Lowe's reiterated its prior sales and earnings guidance for 2019 which was provided on Nov. 20, 2018. The Board of Directors also authorized a new $10 billion common stock repurchase program. This new repurchase program has no expiration date and adds to the previous program's balance, which was $4.5 billion or 18% of their market cap.

Verizon (VZ ) getting hit with a downgrade. With the broader market jumping, the value stocks are lower. The Morgan Stanley analyst downgraded Verizon to a hold from a buy as growth is expected to slow to 1% next year. No 5G homerun in 2019 for Verizon as they continue to spend money on the upgrade, but the second half of 2019 and 2020 could be good ones for Verizon. In the meantime, shareholders collect a 4% dividend.