We had already heard about home improvement giant Home Depot (HD) and its plans for Halloween emerging, including the expansion of the Skelly line of giant lawn ornament skeletons that serve as a surprising status symbol. Now, the entire Halloween collection has gone live, so shoppers can start placing their orders for spooky season décor. This will be vital in about two months, when spooky season actually starts up. The news was good enough for investors, though, and they sent shares of Home Depot surging up nearly 2% in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Some of the developments were already revealed. Skelly is back and big as ever, of course, along with a dog version and a cat version. But a new version also emerged; a 6.5-foot version with “LifeEyes,” a customizable LED display that lets you change several parts of Skelly’s eyes. Change options include color, direction they look, or even replacing them with fire.
Plus, remember the Universal (CMCSA) monster connection that gave us both Chucky and Tiffany from Child’s Play? As it turns out, that was not all Universal was chipping in, as Universal will throw in a six-foot animated Bride of Frankenstein figure to accompany the Frankenstein’s Monster version. Even Disney (DIS) will get in on the action, offering up a Maleficent figure and a Zero figure from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
While It’s Still Warm
But Home Depot is playing both ends against the middle this year, and keeping in mind that patio season is not, strictly speaking, dead as Frankenstein’s Monster is just yet. In fact, Home Depot is both clearing the decks and preparing for next season by offering up some huge new sales on patio furniture. Reports suggest that this is proving welcome, and customers are moving quickly to pick up the last bits of their patio ensembles.
In fact, one report noted sales of up to 75% off on a variety of pieces. A glass bistro table that sold for $59 was marked down to $23, and it was far from the only such deal on offer. Home Depot is not the only one doing this, either; I was recently at a Menard’s location—a more regional, privately-operated home improvement store—and its stocks of patio furniture are rapidly running out. Thus, Home Depot seems to be part of a broader market movement here.
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 6.76% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $428.12 per share implies 12.34% upside potential.
