Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Home Depot Earnings

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush decreased their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for Home Depot in a research note issued on Tuesday, February 25th. Wedbush analyst S. Basham now forecasts that the home improvement retailer will post earnings per share of $3.44 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $3.56. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $440.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Home Depot’s current full-year earnings is $15.13 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Home Depot’s Q2 2026 earnings at $4.50 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.81 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $17.69 EPS.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on HD. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Home Depot from $467.00 to $437.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $436.50.

Home Depot Stock Performance

NYSE:HD opened at $390.40 on Thursday. Home Depot has a twelve month low of $323.77 and a twelve month high of $439.37. The stock has a market cap of $387.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $401.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $398.42.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HD. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,032,910,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,212,546,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 21,394.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,039,862 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $793,486,000 after acquiring an additional 2,030,372 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,149,890 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $4,726,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,857 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $471,189,000. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $2.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.14%.

Home Depot Company Profile

The Home Depot, Inc operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States and internationally. It sells various building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden products, and décor products, as well as facilities maintenance, repair, and operations products. The company also offers installation services for flooring, water heaters, bath, garage doors, cabinets, cabinet makeovers, countertops, sheds, furnaces and central air systems, and windows.