If you have ever found yourself staring at a chart of Home Depot stock, wondering whether now is the right time to jump in or hold steady, you are definitely not alone. With the stock recently closing at $389.33, investors are recalibrating what comes next after a notable drop of 4.3% in the past week and 7.1% over the last month. Year-to-date, Home Depot is hanging basically flat, up just 0.2%, and down slightly at -2.3% over twelve months. That's not exactly fireworks. However, if you step back just a little, you'll see that over the last five years, the stock is still up over 53%. That kind of long-term showing hints at both resilience and underlying growth potential, even if short-term sentiment now feels hesitant.
Part of the recent shakiness comes from broader shifts in how the market perceives risk, especially as economic headlines and interest rate chatter filter through Wall Street. While not every dip or spike is tied directly to headline news, the bigger moves are almost always responding to a combination of market trends and evolving investor worries about the retail sector. Home Depot’s share price is a kind of real-time poll of what investors think about American consumers and the future of housing-related spending.
So what does that mean for value-focused investors? Well, based on standard valuation checks, Home Depot earns a value score of just 1 out of 6, suggesting that by the numbers, most models see the stock as pricey or fairly valued, with only one sign pointing toward undervaluation. Of course, headline valuation ratios tell only part of the story. Up next, we will break down those six standard valuation methods, and stick around, because there is one way of thinking about value that could matter even more for long-term investors.
Home Depot scores just 1/6 on our valuation checks. See what other red flags we found in the full valuation breakdown.
Approach 1: Home Depot Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Analysis
A Discounted Cash Flow, or DCF, model estimates a company’s value by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting those amounts back to their present value. The idea is to figure out what all those expected future dollars are worth in today’s terms. This provides an estimate of what the business should be worth right now.
For Home Depot, the most recent reported Free Cash Flow stands at $14.34 billion. Looking out to 2030, current projections see that number growing to $18.45 billion. Analyst forecasts are available for the first five years, while the remaining years rely on estimates extrapolated from recent trends. These projections provide a structured look at how Home Depot’s ability to generate cash is expected to grow.
After processing the numbers with this model, the intrinsic value for Home Depot stock comes out to $295.41 per share. With Home Depot currently trading at $389.33, the DCF implies the stock is about 31.8% overvalued compared to its projected cash generation.
Result: OVERVALUED
Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Home Depot may be overvalued by 31.8%. Find undervalued stocks or create your own screener to find better value opportunities.
Approach 2: Home Depot Price vs Earnings (P/E Ratio)
The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is the preferred metric for valuing profitable companies like Home Depot. It’s popular because it tells investors how much they’re paying for each dollar of earnings, serving as a straightforward indicator of market expectations for growth and risk. Generally, higher growth expectations or lower risk justify a higher P/E ratio, while more uncertainty or slower growth warrant a lower one.
Home Depot’s current P/E stands at 26.5x. This is a bit below the Specialty Retail industry average of 27.1x but well above the wider industry benchmark of 17.1x. Compared with its immediate peers, Home Depot’s valuation is close, indicating that the market sees its profit outlook, risk, and brand strength as comparable to similar large retailers.
To get a more nuanced view, we use Simply Wall St’s "Fair Ratio," which factors in not just growth or margins but also the company’s specific risks, profit profile, and size in the market. For Home Depot, the Fair Ratio is 23.7x, which is slightly lower than both its current multiple and its peer average. This approach tends to provide a clearer sense of value because it adjusts for the company’s unique strengths and challenges rather than only industry statistics or competitor figures.
Comparing the Fair Ratio (23.7x) with the actual P/E (26.5x) suggests Home Depot’s stock is trading a bit above where it should, given its overall profile.
Result: OVERVALUED
PE ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.
Upgrade Your Decision Making: Choose your Home Depot Narrative
Earlier we mentioned that there is an even better way to understand valuation, so let's introduce you to Narratives. A Narrative is the story behind the numbers, a personalized perspective where you connect your view of Home Depot’s business, its growth drivers, risks, and future potential, to specific financial estimates like future revenue, profit margins, and ultimately, your fair value for the stock.
Instead of relying solely on static ratios, Narratives help you build a dynamic, logical path from a company’s business story to a forward-looking forecast and then a fair value estimate. With Simply Wall St's platform, millions of investors can easily create and share their Narratives on the Community page. This makes it simple to check your own valuation assumptions or see how others are thinking in real time.
This method empowers you to compare your calculated Fair Value with the current price, making it clear when your story says “buy” or “sell,” and keeps you up to date as new news or company results automatically update your numbers and Narrative. For example, some Home Depot investors see bold upside, pegging fair value as high as $481 if they expect tech-driven efficiency and sustained consumer demand, while more cautious users map out just $335 as fair value if risks and margin pressures persist.
Do you think there's more to the story for Home Depot? Create your own Narrative to let the Community know!
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Valuation is complex, but we're here to simplify it.
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