Should You Think About Buying The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Now?

Let's talk about the popular The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD). The company's shares saw a decent share price growth in the teens level on the NYSE over the last few months. With many analysts covering the large-cap stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stock’s share price. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Let’s examine Home Depot’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

View our latest analysis for Home Depot

What is Home Depot worth?

According to my valuation model, the stock is currently overvalued by about 21%, trading at US$355 compared to my intrinsic value of $292.76. This means that the opportunity to buy Home Depot at a good price has disappeared! Another thing to keep in mind is that Home Depot’s share price is quite stable relative to the market, as indicated by its low beta. This means that if you believe the current share price should move towards its intrinsic value over time, a low beta could suggest it is not likely to reach that level anytime soon, and once it’s there, it may be hard to fall back down into an attractive buying range again.

What does the future of Home Depot look like?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. Though in the case of Home Depot, it is expected to deliver a relatively unexciting earnings growth of 9.5%, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. Growth doesn’t appear to be a main reason for a buy decision for the company, at least in the near term.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has well and truly priced in HD’s future outlook, with shares trading above its fair value. At this current price, shareholders may be asking a different question – should I sell? If you believe HD should trade below its current price, selling high and buying it back up again when its price falls towards its real value can be profitable. But before you make this decision, take a look at whether its fundamentals have changed.

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on HD for some time, now may not be the best time to enter into the stock. The price has surpassed its true value, which means there’s no upside from mispricing. However, the positive outlook means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Home Depot and you'll want to know about them.

If you are no longer interested in Home Depot, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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.

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