Ackman Is Said to Recommend Buying Lowe’s Shares at Investment Conference

Pershing Square Capital Management LP’s Bill Ackman recommended at a conference that investors buy shares of Lowe’s Cos., according to a person who attended the presentation who declined to be identified.

The home-improvement retailer has fallen 9.2 percent in 2011 after rallying two straight years. It rose 2.1 percent to $22.77 today, extending gains after 3 p.m. New York time.

Ackman commented on the Mooresville, North Carolina-based company today at the Great Investors’ Best Ideas event in Dallas, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the event was private.

The activist hedge-fund manager became the largest shareholder in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. last month when he disclosed a 12.2 percent stake in the Calgary-based company. While his history of prodding companies to boost returns spurred speculation that he might seek a sale, he said that isn’t his aim at Canada’s second-largest railroad, according to a Nov. 1 interview with Bloomberg News.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft in New York at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net