Forget the sweaters and socks. Home Depot Inc. is popping up as an analyst choice for holiday season sales amid elevated promotions for the category and strong appliance sales in the recently reported third quarter.

Home Depot HD, -2.47% is the top holiday pick for analysts at BTIG due to a number of factors, including the home retailer’s low earnings-per-share exposure in the fourth quarter and positive tailwinds.

See also: Projected holiday sales gain cut after weaker Thanksgiving weekend showing

“Home Depot’s recent quarterly results reported on Nov. 15 showed continued momentum in big ticket and Pro [Home Depot’s program for professional contractors], further marketshare gains and ongoing discipline,” BTIG wrote in a note published Monday.

Credit Suisse analysts said the appliance category saw increased discounts over the holiday weekend this year, with more retailers, including Best Buy Inc. BBY, -1.05% , J.C. Penney Co. Inc. US:JCP , and HHGregg Inc. US:HGG , getting in on the action.

“Thanksgiving has become more important for this category in recent years, and this is notably one of the few promotional categories in the home improvement channel,” Credit Suisse wrote in a note published Monday.

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Black Friday: make or break for malls

Analysts there said traffic winners were Home Depot and Lowe’s Companies Inc. LOW, -1.82% , where there were more robust Black Friday sales year-over-year. Lowe’s had the largest Black Friday appliance offering while Sears Holdings Corp. US:SHLD was most aggressively discounting its Kenmore brand, Credit Suisse said.

Coming out of its third-quarter earnings announcement, Home Depot identified appliances as a standout category, reporting a double-digit same-store sales increase for the quarter.

“While all merchandise categories posted positive comps appliances continue to lead the business and lumber was above the average as well,” Jefferies analysts wrote in a note published Nov. 15.

See also:5 things not to buy at Lowe’s and Home Depot

Analysts expect the company to report a same-store sales increase in the fourth quarter of about 3%. Home Depot executives also expect appliances to make a positive showing for the end of the year.

“[I]t’s always a big appliance selling season and we would expect to continue to grow appliances in the fourth quarter,” said Carol Tomé, Home Depot’s chief financial officer, on the call, according to a FactSet transcript.