We know that home improvement retail giant Home Depot (HD) has been dealing with a lot of issues lately, particularly on the political front. But a new report out suggests that, despite the political headwinds, there are some excellent opportunities for growth at Home Depot. This left investors’ confidence less than supported, though, and sent Home Depot shares down modestly in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Some reports suggest that Home Depot is currently trading a little bit above its fair value, giving it a bit of downside risk. TipRanks data, however, suggests there is quite a bit of upside potential to be had herein, so keep that in mind. At any rate, Home Depot’s move to acquire GMS (GMS) is offering a major opportunity for Home Depot to advance with the contractor market, and giving it some excellent growth potential as well.
Further making things look bright at Home Depot are positive comparable sales, as well as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $25.5 billion in the trailing 12-month period. In fact, keeping those both in mind suggests that the entire housing market may be getting some new life breathed into it. Throw in a push for greater technology and digital expansion, as well as 13 new stores for the 2026 fiscal year, and Home Depot makes a solid case for itself.
At Least He’s Not Suing Home Depot
But as we know, there is one major hurdle for Home Depot right now: its connection to the illegal immigrant community and the growing political will to expel illegal immigrants. Recently, Job Garcia—a photographer at Claremont Graduate University pursuing a Ph.D—was arrested and detained for over 24 hours following an arrest at Home Depot led by ICE officials.
Garcia was reportedly “…tackled, thrown to the ground, arrested and detained…” after he began recording the ICE agents making arrests. Garcia also advised those in a commercial truck nearby to refuse to respond to ICE agents. That was when Garcia was arrested, reports noted. Garcia’s attorneys claim that he suffered “…physical injury, emotional distress, and economic losses…” as a result. Though Home Depot’s connection here is tangential, it still contributes to overall public perception and potential sales from there.
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 a 9.45% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $428.74 per share implies 16.91% upside potential.
