Home Depot vs. Lowe’s: Who Houses Better Performance

The Home Depot (HD) and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) compete in the home improvement retail industry in the US, which comprises retailers that sell plumbing, kitchen fittings, hardware, appliances and other home improvement products.

The total size of the US home improvement retail industry is approximately $129.2 billion by revenues, with Home Depot leading the market with a 58.9% share. Together, Home Depot and Lowe’s account for 97% of the market share by revenues.

Although the demand for home improvement retailers is driven by both new housing starts and existing home sales, Home Depot and Lowe’s Inc.’s revenue growth rates are more dependent on existing home sales than housing starts. Existing home sales drive demand for plumbing, electrical and kitchen products, which are major contributors to these companies’ revenues, while housing starts drive demand for building materials, lumber and millwork, which contribute less to their total revenues. read more.

Home Depot: Little Room for Growth

Home Depot (HD) is one of the world’s largest retailers of home improvement goods and services. It is a cyclical company whose performance has a direct correlation with the US housing industry. It was founded in 1978, and it currently operates around 2,260 stores throughout the US, Mexico and Canada.

Home Depot’s stock price has risen approximately 250% since January 2009, following an improvement in housing construction activity. The company’s same store sales (SSS) started improving from the first quarter of fiscal year 2011 (1QFY11), and SSS growth rose 10.7% YoY in 2QFY13. read more.

Prices Aren’t the Only Things Low at Walmart

In February 2013, President Obama had proposed an increase in the minimum federal wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour to address the problem of widening income inequality in the country. His proposal was echoed in nationwide demonstrations for higher wages, following which the ‘living wage’ bill was passed by the D.C. Council in July 2013 with the support of eight of the 13 council members.

The $8.25 minimum wage in D.C. is already a dollar higher compared to the federal minimum wage, but the D.C. bill required all large retailers with revenues above $1 billion to pay non-union workers at least $12.50 an hour.

For a while, things seemed to be looking up for minimum wagers, but Corporate America was having none of it. Walmart (WMT) and other large retailers pressured policymakers to make sure the bill wasn’t passed. They wrote to the D.C. mayor, pressuring him to abandon the bill… ‘or else’. He eventually caved in to the pressure, dealing the first blow to the legislation. Laborers’ hopes of better compensation were finally dashed completely when the D.C. Council failed to overturn the veto on September 18. read more.

Study: Home Depot has best online gift card program

ATLANTA -- Vinings-based The Home Depot, Inc. operates the best e-gift card program among the 99 retailers and restaurant chains analyzed by research and advisory firm Retail Systems Research LLC for a new report released at Shop.org's Annual Summit in Chicago, reports Internet Retailer.
The study, sponsored by digital gift card provider CashStar, analyzed digital gift card purchases made in July and August using 21 criteria, including whether consumers can easily find the gift cards on the merchant's website and how easy it is for recipients to redeem the cards. Read More:

One Put, One Call, To Know About for Home Depot

Consistently, one of the more popular stocks people enter into their stock options watchlist at Stock Options Channel is Home Depot HD +0.54% (NYSE: HD). So this week we highlight one interesting put contract, and one interesting call contract, from the October expiration for HD.
The put contract our YieldBoost algorithm identified as particularly interesting, is at the $74 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of 12 cents. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 0.2% return against the $74 commitment, or a 14.8% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost). Read More

Home Depot’s Redbeacon Expands ‘Do-It-for-Me’ Services

Home Depot Inc. (HD), world’s largest home improvement retailer, is accelerating the national rollout of its online handyman referral service Redbeacon to tap demand from homeowners who don’t want to do fix-it projects themselves.
Redbeacon, which connects consumers with painters, plumbers, carpenters and maids, expanded this week through Home Depot to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Alaska. That puts the service in 11 states as the service pushes nationwide over the next two years, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Rodio said in an interview Wednesday.

Founded by three former Google Inc. (GOOG) employees five years ago, Redbeacon is Home Depot’s third acquisition since 2012 aimed at selling more home-installation projects. While those services account for only 4 percent of the retailer’s revenue, it underpins Home Depot CEO Frank Blake’s push to drive more sales through his roughly 2,000 U.S. stores as rising home prices spur renovation. Read More: