Home Depot (NYSE:HD) has seen sales fall quite a bit from their pandemic prime when people were staying home and putting cash into improving their spaces. But the home improvement retailer is eager to re-bottle some of that lightning, and it’s got a plan to do that with new distribution centers to attract homebuilding professionals. However, investors were skeptical and sent Home Depot shares down fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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While Home Depot certainly does not have a shortage of business with individuals looking to launch various do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, a lot of its business comes from professional contractors. From electricians to plumbers to full remodelers, Home Depot pulls about half of its sales from the professional market.
As such, a slate of new distribution centers will make doing business with those high-volume shoppers a little easier all around. The four new distribution outlets will open in Toronto, Canada, as well as San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Detroit. Each center measures 500,000 feet, about five times the size of a standard Home Depot location.
Is Home Depot a Buy or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on HD stock based on 17 Buys, seven Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 33.62% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $378.60 per share implies 0.72% upside potential.
