SRS, an acquired business now selling through Home Depot's stores, grew comparable sales faster than the company's overall 1.7% rise in the quarter ended Aug. 2, 2026, and 90% of stores closed an SRS sale in the past 12 months. Home Depot's operating margin has slipped for three years, from 14.9% to 12.4% over the 12 months to Aug. 2, 2026, the lowest among the last 40 quarter ends. The latest quarter's gross margin rose only about 25 basis points despite a roughly 145-basis-point boost from a tariff refund, as about 60 basis points went to higher fuel, energy and input costs and another 60 to acquisition mix. Management guided fiscal 2026 sales growth of 2.5% to 4.5% and an operating margin of 12.4% to 12.6%, with the latter to be watched when Home Depot reports in November 2026. Over the past year, the stock fell 16.9% while the S&P 500 gained 16.5%.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related news
- Should You Buy Home Depot Stock Before Nov. 17?
Home Depot (HD) shares are down 10% so far in 2026, as investors worry that inflation is leading consumers to spend less and delay home renovation projects. Revenue growth recovered to just under 6% in the latest quarter, and the stock trades at 21 times trailing earnings, below the S&P 500 average of 23. The author argues that home repair needs are hard to postpone for long, so a recovery is likely, and points to a dividend yield of about 3% and 158 consecutive quarterly dividends. The author does not predict the results for the third quarter, which are due on Nov. 17.
- What Would Flat Store Sales Do To Home Depot Stock?
Home Depot reported comparable sales growth of 1.7% for the quarter (1.3% in U.S. stores) and reaffirmed a fiscal 2026 forecast of 0% to 2%. Against $165 billion in sales from its last fiscal year, the article estimates a flat year would forgo about $1.65 billion, which would dent the year but not the company. Twelve-month operating income slipped to $21.0 billion from $21.6 billion, and the 12.4% operating margin is the lowest at any quarter-end in ten years, although the latest quarter's operating income rose to $6.84 billion from $6.56 billion. Free cash flow of $15.1 billion over the past twelve months exceeded the $9.22 billion paid in dividends, and the company bought back no shares. The next report, expected on or around November 17, 2026, will show whether comparable sales stay within the forecast and whether the 12.4% to 12.6% operating margin forecast holds.
- What Is The One Risk Every Home Depot Investor Should Know?
Home Depot shares have fallen 22% over the past twelve months, while the S&P 500 returned 17.0%, even though total sales rose 5.7% in the fiscal second quarter. On the August 18, 2026 earnings call, executives blamed a frozen housing market, with housing turnover at historical lows for four years, which is holding back demand for larger projects. Comp sales rose 1.7%, but customers made fewer trips: the average ticket climbed 2.8% while comp transactions fell 1.0%. Operating margin over the past twelve months was 12.4%, down from 14.9% three years ago, and the stock sits about 24% below its 52-week high. The article calls the housing pressure a slow-moving risk to monitor rather than an immediate emergency, with the third-quarter report as the next key test.
- Alibaba vs . Home Depot : Which Consumer Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026 ?
The article compares Alibaba (BABA) and Home Depot (HD), two large consumer stocks pursuing different growth paths: digital commerce and cloud for Alibaba, home improvement retail for Home Depot. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, Alibaba reported revenue of about $153.3 billion (up roughly 2.7%), net income of about $15.5 billion, a net margin of about 10%, and free cash flow of approximately negative $7.6 billion. For the fiscal year ended February 1, 2026, Home Depot reported revenue of about $164.7 billion (up roughly 3.2%), net income of about $14.2 billion, a net margin of about 8.6%, and free cash flow of about $12.6 billion. Debt-to-equity is about 0.2x for Alibaba and 5.1x for Home Depot. Home Depot faces a class action lawsuit over data privacy and alleged unauthorized use of license plate readers, while the article notes Alibaba trades at a lower valuation than Home Depot on forward P/E and P/S.
- Amazon vs. Home Depot: Which Consumer Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
This comparison weighs Amazon.com against Home Depot on growth, risk and valuation. In FY 2025, Amazon reported revenue of nearly $716.9 billion, up 12.4%, and net income of about $77.7 billion, a net margin near 10.8%. Home Depot posted revenue of nearly $164.7 billion, up 3.2%, but net income fell to roughly $14.2 billion from nearly $14.8 billion, and its debt-to-equity ratio was about 5.1x. Amazon faces intense global competition and a $309.5 million settlement over customer refund issues, while Home Depot faces a class action over its AI-powered parking-lot surveillance.
- What Changed In Home Depot's Story?
Home Depot's management now emphasizes faster delivery rather than the global sourcing strategy it highlighted in 2025. On the August 18, 2026 call it announced the nationwide launch of Express Delivery, with arrival in 3 hours or less for tens of thousands of products, and said U.S. delivery lead times were cut by about 45% over 18 months. Digital sales rose 11% in the quarter ended August 2, 2026, versus 5.7% growth in total revenue, marking a fifth straight quarter of double-digit digital growth. Tariff refunds of $730 million helped lift gross margin to 33.7% from 33.4% a year earlier, as the refunds added about 145 basis points before higher costs took back about 60 of them. Based on management's own figures, the margin would have dropped below the prior-year level without the refunds, and management reaffirmed a full-year gross margin projection of about 33.1% while saying fuel, energy and input costs will fully offset the tariff benefits.
Related markets
Latest news
- Musk's wants to merge SpaceX and Tesla: Here's what to know
Musk said SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to study a merger, which would be worth about $3.5 trillion combined and would be the largest corporate deal in history. SpaceX, valued at about $2 trillion after a record listing this year, absorbed Musk's AI startup xAI in February, while Tesla is valued at about $1.5 trillion. Musk holds about 82 percent of SpaceX's voting power but only about 20 percent at Tesla. Dan Ives puts the odds of a deal at 90 percent by early 2027, though Musk called the requirement of a majority of all Tesla shares 'quite a high hurdle'. Loyal retail investors hold an estimated 25 to 27 percent of Tesla shares, and legal obstacles appear slight because both companies moved their incorporation to Texas from Delaware.
- CoreWeave and Nebius Stocks Are Crashing. Time to Buy the Dip?
Shares of Nebius and CoreWeave each fell 25% in the week of October 12 to 16. The sell-off stems from the yield on CoreWeave's debt in the secondary market surging to 15%, versus roughly 5% on Treasuries, which pushes the debt into 'distressed' territory and signals doubts about its ability to meet obligations. Nebius sold off in sympathy as a fellow neocloud company. The bigger concern is that both companies must keep issuing debt to fund data centers, and if yields are high at issuance, the assumption of nearly unlimited cheap capital could be challenged. The author says it is unclear whether now is the time to buy.
- Disney’s multiplatform Super Bowl plan frustrates ABC affiliates
ABC station owners are irritated that Disney is airing the Super Bowl across several platforms, including Disney+, ESPN2, NFL Network and ESPNU, even though the game is already on ABC and ESPN. A station group CEO estimates that the combined platforms could cut broadcast ad revenue by up to 35% compared with last year. Local affiliates typically earn about 3% of annual ad revenue from the Super Bowl and pay network owners reverse retransmission fees, but Disney+ lacks geofenced ad insertion, so affiliates cannot sell ads to streaming viewers. Disney says national commercials will be identical on all platforms and that streaming major live events is standard industry practice. Super Bowl LX drew 125.6 million viewers in February.
- Meta’s deal to keep Zuckerberg in California adds fuel to wealth tax debate ahead of election
Meta says Mark Zuckerberg will remain in California for eight years and has created a new stock plan that could help cover his taxes if Proposition 40, a 5% tax on Californians worth over $1 billion, passes on Election Day on Nov. 3. According to a filing released with its third-quarter earnings, Meta will issue non-voting Class C shares starting in January, and Zuckerberg can sell or transfer up to 20% of the shares granted to him without affecting his majority voting control. The filing says Zuckerberg’s leadership is crucial to the company’s growth and its AI ambitions, including Meta Superintelligence Labs. Most of the tech industry opposes the measure, while a recent Citrin-Politico poll found 46% in favor and 43% against, suggesting it may fall short of the majority support it needs.
- Nasdaq sell-off: A momentum unwind 'for the record books'
Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager for equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, calls Thursday’s sell-off in the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) a momentum unwind “for the record books.” He says the market spent the first half of 2026 driven by a beta and momentum trade led by semiconductors, but in the third quarter, as rates rose, money shifted into quality stocks. He does not think the sell-off is justified by fundamentals, arguing that institutional portfolio managers swapping out of factor positions can drag down whole baskets of stocks. In semiconductors, spot rental rates for Nvidia Blackwell chips are higher than a month ago, showing tightening compute supply, even as financing costs rise and investors worry about neocloud business models and the rising cost of insuring their bonds.
- Dune launches real-time data feeds covering 200 onchain trading venues
Blockchain analytics platform Dune has launched real-time market data feeds covering more than 200 onchain trading venues, aiming to bring this data into the systems of traditional financial institutions. The feeds draw trade data from 12 blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana and Base, about one second after execution, covering both spot trading on decentralized exchanges and perpetual futures on Hyperliquid and Lighter. Early clients include quant funds, market makers, asset managers and bank trading desks, which use the data to assess liquidity and compare prices, though Dune did not name them. Meanwhile, the tokenized stock market has grown sharply, with distributed value reaching $3.58 billion, but 16 companies, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs, have objected to their shares being traded on OKXICE’s proposed platform, and liquidity remains fragmented.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.