While home improvement giant Home Depot (HD) is still one of the biggest names around in home improvement, it also faces competition from several sides. With major retailers in its field like Lowe’s (LOW) involved, smaller regional players like Menard’s, and even big box stores stocking home improvement materials, there is always something to watch for. One of the latest threats features old rival Ace Hardware. The move left Home Depot on the back foot, down fractionally in Monday morning’s trading.
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Ace Hardware teamed up with DoorDash (DASH) to offer delivery on demand from the over 4,000 Ace Hardware stores throughout the United States. This is in keeping with Ace’s plan to target the small do-it-yourselfer, a market segment that Home Depot has been moving away from to focus more on the professional builder and contractor segment.
This move gives Ace an unexpected edge in the market, making it not only the first, but also the largest, “…hardware co-op retailer available on DoorDash,” reports note. So for everything from hand tools to garden supplies and beyond, Ace will be able to step in quickly and conveniently. That makes it a much more attractive proposition for end users, and may pull some business from Home Depot.
This Decorative Bucket
So we have heard plenty already about Home Depot’s Halloween decorations, with everything from licensed characters to massive lawn ornaments. But there is one more item proving a winner for Halloween: a two-gallon plastic bucket.
Dubbed the “limited-edition Homer bucket,” it features not only the Home Depot logo, but also a variety of Halloween staples like bats and spiders. Large portions of the internet are already thinking “trick-or-treat bucket extraordinaire,” and some are already starting to customize the buckets accordingly. In fact, Home Depot is seeing something of a run on the limited-edition buckets, prompting some to take spray paint and stencils in hand to make their own versions.
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 10.65% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $445.73 per share implies 6.28% upside potential.
