Back in late June, we brought you word that home improvement giant Home Depot (HD) had shelled out a hefty $4.3 billion to pick up GMS (GMS). The move was regarded as a smart one, allowing Home Depot to better take advantage of the professional builder market. But the move came with some regulatory complications, and now, reports note that the last one has been cleared. This was good enough to give Home Depot a boost of better than 1.5% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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The last hurdle, reports noted, was clearance from the Canadian Competition Bureau. With a no-action letter issued and received by Home Depot, the last antitrust law-related hurdle was cleared. Now, Home Depot is free to pick up the largest distributor of drywall products in the United States.
Home Depot called the move a “…platform for growth,” and looks to combine GMS with SRS Distribution, a move that will give Home Depot more offerings for the pro market. And with reports emerging that the Trump administration is considering issuing a “national housing emergency,” the deal could be a lot more timely, and have more impact, than previously expected.
Dogs Love Home Depot Too, Apparently
Meanwhile, in an unexpected twist, there was a ghost in one Home Depot location recently, and it caused quite a stir. No, not one of Home Depot’s growing array of animatronic lawn decorations, but rather, a dog by that name. A Cane Corso named Ghost—who weighs 164 pounds and “…looks like a big horse,” as one employee remarked—was recently spotted walking the aisles.
The TikTok video that followed demonstrated that Ghost could be friendly, and seemed to bring plenty of smiles on his walk through the home improvement superstore. While it is easy to wonder how many people decided to buy hammers and the like as a result of Ghost’s visit, being connected to such a feel-good event as this might influence a few potential customers away from competitors with less dog-friendly policies.
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 12.04% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $445.14 per share implies 8.17% upside potential.
