This holiday shopping season, Home Depot is looking to regain some momentum after a disappointing year. The home improvement retailer’s Black Friday promotions, which end Wednesday, are aimed at driving traffic after a soft third quarter in which rival Lowe’s outperformed on same-store sales. Both companies were cautious with their forward guidance. “I admit that I’m in Home Depot for my Charitable Trust, and I actually wish I were in Lowe’s ,” Jim Cramer said on CNBC last week, shortly after Lowe’s post-earnings stock pop. However, Jim has said that Home Depot is the best play on lower rates in the Trust, which is the portfolio used by the CNBC Investing Club. Home Depot has enough gift sets and holiday decor “to keep the lights on,” Mizuho analyst David Bellinger. “It’s not make or break. But it definitely helps to have these other categories.” While the spring planting season , which coincides with the busiest time for home sales, is the most important time for Home Depot, Bellinger said Black Friday and holiday shopping are still important. To be sure, neither Home Depot nor Lowe’s shares are setting the world on fire amid a strong 2025 for the S & P 500 . Home Depot has dropped more than 8% year to date. Lowe’s has declined by over 1% in 2025. The charts of both stocks had been following a similar pattern. But over the past month, Home Depot’s decline has been greater than Lowe’s. HD LOW YTD mountain Home Depot and Lowe’s YTD As shoppers gear up for post-Thanksgiving shopping, Home Depot is ready to capture those dollars. The company doesn’t provide Black Friday sales data, but during the most recent earnings call, William Bastek, Home Depot’s executive vice president of merchandising, said the company is “looking forward to the excitement” of the annual shopping holiday, citing appliance deals on popular brands like LG, Samsung, Bosch, Whirlpool, GE, and Frigidaire. Bastek also highlighted the company’s gift center events. Back on the February earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2024, Bastek said the holiday events garnered strong engagement, with appliance and gift center events posting record sales. Home Depot saw fourth-quarter 2024 sales of $39.7 billion. Analysts expect revenue in the current fourth quarter of 2025 to drop 4% to $38.09 billion, according to FactSet. A larger part of the company’s strategy is its push to attract professional contractors. The company recently shelled out more than $22 billion in separate deals to acquire both SRS Distribution and GMS. In early September, Home Depot completed its acquisition of GMS and folded it into SRS. So far, the big bets are paying off. According to management, SRS, which caters to roofing pros and has a lucrative trade-credit system, “continues to perform extremely well.” The roofing market, however, is under pressure, leading to flat third-quarter comps for SRS. Home building is also stagnant. But professional clientele is a steadier client base for Home Depot, unlike DIY…
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