Home improvement giant Home Depot (HD) has been aggressively pursuing the pro builder market segment for some time now. It wants to diversify a bit, spread out from the somewhat more volatile consumer retail market, and with good reason. In aid of that, Home Depot just released a new tool that the pro builder should find particularly useful. Investors, however, are less than enthusiastic about the tool’s impact, and responded accordingly. Home Depot shares were down fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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It is called the Home Depot Project Planning tool, and it offers a range of useful options for the pro builder that most regular do-it-yourselfers just would not be able to put to work. Since, according to Home Depot, the average professional is working with 10 suppliers, or more, on a single project, the tool looks to condense and streamline the process by making Home Depot the sole supplier instead of spreading that out among 10 different platforms.
The tool includes things like a materials list, order tracking and delivery management, early pricing, and “multi-user collaboration,” which allows builders to loop in their crews or subcontractors to keep them on task. It is not only helpful for contractors, but also allows Home Depot to better access all those projects itself. That means more cash goes through Home Depot on more projects.
Backup Power
The value of a backup power supply can be immeasurable. I personally have put backup power systems to work as part of my own work here, so I can speak from experience on that front. And Home Depot is out to be your supplier of choice for backup power systems with a new sale.
Home Depot’s new sale focuses on a range of battery packs and other generators, offering substantial discounts. For instance, the Jackery Explorer 1000V2 is selling for $449 instead of its usual cost of $778.77, and offers 1500 watts of continuous power. That is enough to keep a standard-size refrigerator running for 17 hours, reports note, which can be absolutely clutch in a power outage. Home Depot will be offering a range of models during this sale.
Is Home Depot a Good Long-Term Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on HD stock based on 19 Buys and six Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 2.83% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $447.50 per share implies 9.63% upside potential.
