Running head: HOME DEPOT 1

The Home Depot Corporation

Christina M. Jones

Arizona State University

OGL 260-Module 3

July 20, 2019

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The Home Depot Corporation

This paper will go analyze the Home depot corporation with looking at their business,

history, financials, business plan, and stock history. The Home Depot is a business known for

leading the way in do it yourself projects for consumers all across the nation. The journey began

for this business in 1978 when the first doors were opened din Los Angeles, CA (“The Home is

where our story begins,” 2019). The Home Depot publish on their company site that “Home

Depot stock went public to the NASDAQ and raised $4.093 million dollars on September 22

1981” (“The Home is where our story begins,” 2019). The company has a customer focused

foundation and what has been built is a strong brand and ability to capitalize on their investor

relations.

Their most recent annual report in 2018 it starts by addressing the shareholders with

explaining the culture and highlights of the year. This annual report contains balance sheet and

income statements showing the cash flows of operations as wells as income, liabilities, and stock

dividends. In research of this report is stated that gross profit increase “$2.8 billion, or

8.2%, to $37.2 billion in fiscal 2018. Gross profit as a percent of net sales, or gross profit margin,

was 34.3% in fiscal 2018 compared to 34.0% in fiscal 2017.”(“HD Annual Report 2018”, 2018,

Pg. 22). As an overview of their income statement, each year they steadily increase in their sales,

and steadily increase their operating expenses which increase their net income and dividends to

their shareholders. This trend seems to be a positive for the company as based on their statements

it is all consistent growth (“HD Annual Report 2018”, 2018, Pg. 21-27).

Home Depot has published business plans are five strategic priorities that is the

mainframe of how they operate business. In 2015 they sought to change these to enhance

business and the future; the changes they made were enhancing the customer experience and
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keeping up with customer expectations, positioning the future so their culture can be “one home

depot”, and creating value which is increasing ROI and dividends for shareholders (The Home

Depot, 2017). This business enhancement plan shows they want to increase their financial

positon and to increase financial performance all around. Table 1 shows the history of Home

Depot Stock history since 2014, their growth around 2015 to the present which exemplifies their

plan into action with consistently growing stock prices.

Table 1

Stock History Information released by Home Depot (“Historical Lookup,” 2019)

Stock Price $104.97 $132 $134.08 $189.53 $171.82 $215.61

Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Currently their stock is at a record high for company being the highest since on the

market in 1986. Kiel Thompson from The Winnex suggests that Home Depot shares as a whole

have mixed reviews but based on the risk it will have potential getting a return on invest if

chosen for an investment (Thompson, 2019). Overall the company’s stock history has been

trending positive and although Home Depot is not the first company that comes to mind when

exchanging on the open market. Based on the research it may prove to be a lower risk investment

that is easily accessible to invest directly or indirectly using an investment firm.

What we can conclude from this overview is that Home Depot Financial statements have

been consistently growing. In comparison with 2011 it seems to be the same in 2018 with a

increase in profit margins (Keown, Martin, & Petty, 2014, Pg. 75). What is also known about

their financial portifolio is that net cash investments, cash flows and opoerations, and cash flows
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from fianceing are contining to grow and as a reuslt their profits and stocks continue to grow as

well. Home Depot is currently in good standing and with their business plan still underway they

look towards the future with hoepfully more potential proits and innvoation to expand.
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References

HD Annual Report 2018. (2018). Retrieved from Home Depot:

https://ir.homedepot.com/~/media/Files/H/HomeDepot-

IR/2019_Proxy_Updates/HDAnnualReport2018.pdf

Home Depot Historical Lookup. (2019). Retrieved July 18, 2019, from Home Depot:

https://ir.homedepot.com/stock-information/historical-lookup

Keown, A., Martin, J., & Petty, J. (2014). Foundations Of Finance. Upper Saddle River:

Pearson.

The Home Depot, .. (2017, December 6). THE HOME DEPOT UPDATES STRATEGIC

PRIORITIES; CONFIRMS FISCAL YEAR 2017 SALES AND DILUTED EARNINGS-

PER-SHARE GUIDANCE; OUTLINES LONG-TERM FINANCIAL TARGETS;

ANNOUNCES ACCELERATED BUSINESS INVESTMENT PLAN AND $15

BILLION SHARE REPURCHASE AUTHORIZATION. Retrieved from

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-home-depot-updates-strategic-priorities-

confirms-fiscal-year-2017-sales-and-diluted-earnings-per-share-guidance-outlines-long-

term-financial-targets-announces-accelerated-business-investment-plan-and-15-billion

The Home is Where Our Story Begins. (2019). Retrieved from Home Depot :

https://corporate.homedepot.com/about/history

Thompson, K. (2019). THE HOME DEPOT, INC. (HD) – IT’S TIME TO BUY. CHECK OUT

KEY INDICATORS. p. 1. Retrieved from https://dwinnex.com/2019/07/16/the-home-

depot-inc-hd-its-time-to-buy-check-out-key-indicators/