We know that, for the last several weeks, home improvement giant Home Depot (HD) has been something of a battleground in the ongoing campaign against illegal immigration. This point was underscored recently as Border Patrol agents used an attack worthy of myth and legend, drawing on the Trojan Horse to pursue illegal immigrants in a Home Depot parking lot. Investors were less than pleased by the latest assault, sending Home Depot shares down modestly in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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The mission, which agency officials actually dubbed “Operation Trojan Horse,” featured several Border Patrol agents in the back of a rented box truck in a Home Depot parking lot. At one point, the agents in question poured out of the back of the truck, guns drawn, in a bid to make arrests. Interestingly, Penske Truck Rental, which owned the truck in question, is looking into the matter, noting that “…its regulations prohibit transporting people in truck cargo areas.”
Penske Truck Rental actually put up quite a fight around this, noting that it was “…not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.” How far this initiative will get is anyone’s guess.
The Theft Ring Broken
Meanwhile, Home Depot moved to take out a “theft crew” that hit close to 200 stores throughout Northern California. And, reports noted, the judge in the case has delayed sentencing on the individuals that made up said crew in a bid to consider “stiffer sentences,” reports noted.
Over the course of four months, the four men involved stole $65,000 worth of merchandise from Home Depot locations. In some cases, the thieves reportedly hit the same location multiple times. In fact, reports noted, one Emeryville location had been hit 24 times by the crew in question. The method was almost disturbingly simple; they would walk in, take what they could, and walk right back out, taking their ill-gotten gains to flea markets to resell.
Is Home Depot a Good Long-Term Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on HD stock based on 18 Buys and six Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 11.04% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $428.12 per share implies 11.07% upside potential.
