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Home Depot (HD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Home Depot (HD - Free Report) closed at $281.26, marking a +1.75% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 2.65% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.86%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.24%.

Coming into today, shares of the home-improvement retailer had gained 0.17% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 11.17%, while the S&P 500 lost 8.99%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Home Depot as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be November 15, 2022. On that day, Home Depot is projected to report earnings of $4.11 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 4.85%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $37.9 billion, up 2.93% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $16.64 per share and revenue of $156.53 billion, which would represent changes of +7.15% and +3.56%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Home Depot. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.47% higher within the past month. Home Depot is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Home Depot has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.61 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 7.93, which means Home Depot is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that HD has a PEG ratio of 1.48. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Building Products - Retail was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.48 at yesterday's closing price.

The Building Products - Retail industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 177, which puts it in the bottom 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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