The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) – Home Depot apologizes for racist tweet

Home improvement maker Home Depot Inc. on Thursday apologized for a tweet that showed a picture of two African-American drummers with a person in a gorilla mask in between them and asked: “Which drummer is not like the others?”

The tweet, from Home Depot’s official Twitter account, @HomeDepot, was part of a “College Gameday” college football promotion on ESPN. It was quickly pulled, but not before people took screen shots of it and it was widely circulated on social media. NBC and CNBC, among others, reported on the Tweet.

The Home Depot, Inc. (HD), with a current value of $108.11B, opened at $75.28. During the trading session, HD traded between $74.78 to $75.71 with a one year range of $60.21 to $81.56. Read more.

Home Depot Apologizes for a Tweet That Offends

Home Depot spent much of Thursday and Friday scrambling to apologize after a message sent from the company’s primary Twitter account, @HomeDepot, was criticized as racially insensitive.

The message, part of a college football promotion, included a picture of two African-American men and a person in a gorilla suit drumming on overturned buckets, with a caption that read, “which drummer is not like the others?” The tweet, which went out midday on Thursday, was quickly deleted. Within hours, Home Depot apologized publicly and said it had fired the people who sent it out.

 

“We have zero tolerance for anything so stupid and offensive,” Stephen Holmes, director of corporate communications for Home Depot, said in an email statement. “The outside agency that created the tweet and the Home Depot associate who posted it have been terminated. Read more.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) – At the Open: New Records for S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrials?

Is it time to pop the champagne and celebrate new stock market highs? The Dow Jones Industrials have risen 0.2% to 15,781.75 at 9:51 a.m.-a record high–lifted by the Home Depot (HD), which has gained 0.9%, and General Electric (GE), which has risen 0.7%. Deutsche Bank’s Alan Ruskin explains why the number isn’t as strong as it looks: Headline GDP 2.8%.

Looking at the stock, its one day range is $76.34 to $77.18 with a one year range of $60.21 to $81.56. HD shares are currently priced at 20.71x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 25.39x earnings multiple for the same period. 

The company pays shareholders $1.56 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.00%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 26 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.89 per share, which would be $0.15 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.01 sequential increase. Read more.

Think Home Depot Is Too Big? Think Again.

Many investors don't need to be reminded of the tremendous growth that Home Depot (NYSE: HD  ) has seen over the previous years as the company has emerged a winner following the 2008 recession. The rebound of consumer residential spending and strong housing starts are two strong reasons why shares are up over 100% in the last two years. Outside of favorable economic trends lies a well managed and well positioned company that is well positioned to continue growing over the years.

Many investors are questioning if the company's growth can continue over the coming years. From a revenue perspective, the argument can be made that the company still has several more years of above-average growth ahead. 

Fitch Ratings released a study which concluded that homeowners are set to increase spending on home improvement projects, a trend which will continue into 2014. Read more.