Will Home Depot Keep Leading the Dow After Earnings on Tuesday?

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD | HD Price Prediction) is scheduled to release its fiscal first-quarter financial results before the markets open on Tuesday. Analysts are calling for $2.26 in earnings per share (EPS) and $27.28 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $2.27 in EPS and $26.38 billion in revenue.

This company was a “good economy winner” known for raising dividends and buying back stock, but with shares now back to their all-time highs, the stock has a dividend yield right at 2.5%. It should be expected that very few homes will be purchased in the coming months, even with rock-bottom mortgage rates, but homeownership requires ongoing maintenance and care that will keep Home Depot shoppers going there for years.

During the previous quarter, comparable sales rose 5.2% globally and 5.3% in the United States. For the fiscal 2019 full year, comparable sales increased 3.5% globally and 3.8% domestically.

At that time, the board of directors has approved a 10% increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.50 per share, which equates to an annual dividend of $6.00 per share.

Excluding Monday’s move, Home Depot stock had outperformed the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average with a gain of about 10% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the share price was up closer to 24%.

A few analysts weighed in on Home Depot ahead of the report:

• Piper Sandler has a Neutral rating and a $236 price target.
• Jefferies has a Buy rating with a $269 target price.
• Wells Fargo has an Overweight rating and a $260 price target.
• Raymond James rates it as Outperform with a $230 price target.
• SunTrust’s Hold rating comes with a $220 price target.
• UBS has a Buy rating with a $250 price target.

Home Depot stock traded up 3% at $246.50 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $140.63 to $247.36. The consensus price target is $225.92.

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