Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW): Today's Featured Retail Winner

Lowe's Companies (LOW) pushed the Retail industry higher today making it today's featured retail winner. The industry as a whole closed the day up 1%. By the end of trading, Lowe's Companies rose 56 cents (2.2%) to $25.97 on light volume. Throughout the day, 12.2 million shares of Lowe's Companies exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 16.4 million shares. The stock ranged in a price between $25.44-$26.12 after having opened the day at $25.50 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $25.41. Other companies within the Retail industry that increased today were: Conn's (CONN), up 16.5%, HHGregg Incorporated (HGG), up 6.8%, Liquidity Service (LQDT), up 5.9%, and Builders FirstSource (BLDR), up 5.9%.

• ACTIVE STOCK TRADERS: Check out TheStreet's special offer for Real Money, headlined by Jim Cramer, now!

Lowe's Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a home improvement retailer. It offers a range of products for maintenance, repair, remodeling, and home decorating. Lowe's Companies has a market cap of $29.99 billion and is part of the services sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 16.8, below the average retail industry P/E ratio of 16.9 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 0.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday. Currently there are 11 analysts that rate Lowe's Companies a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 10 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Lowe's Companies as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, growth in earnings per share and increase in net income. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

• You can view the full Lowe's Companies Ratings Report.

On the negative front, QKL Stores (QKLS), down 27.4%, Bon-Ton Stores (BONT), down 3.7%, ValueVision Media (VVTV), down 3.4%, and U.S. Auto Parts Network (PRTS), down 2.9%, were all laggards within the retail industry with CVS Caremark (CVS) being today's retail industry laggard.

• Use our retail section to find industry-relevant news.
• Or find some new ideas from our top rated stocks lists.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the retail industry could consider SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) while those bearish on the retail industry could consider ProShares Ultra Sht Consumer Goods (SZK).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on Lowe's Companies Inc. click any of the following:

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Stock Price

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Earnings

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Growth Rates

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Balance Sheet

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Cash Flow

• Lowe's Companies Inc. Income Statement