BofA Securities analyst Steve Byrne removed his sell rating and upgraded S&P 500 component company Sherwin-Williams (NYSE: SHW) to neutral this morning with a $375 price target. Doing a bit of a victory lap, Byrne commented:
“When we downgraded shares to Underperform, we were concerned about a deceleration in housing markets and sell-side estimates that were overly optimistic. Fundamentally, the thesis has played out, as same-store sales growth has declined to 0.8% and 2Q results and guidance fell short of expectations. From here, [however] we have run short of negative catalysts and do not see what would make shares materially underperform.”
Hence, “neutral” is the right rating to make. It’s not impressing investors overly, however, and Sherwin-Williams stock is down 1.2% today. The Voo, on the other hand, is now precisely flat, either up or down 0.00%.