Home Depot Reports Q1 Sales Growth Amid Market Challenges
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Feb 24 2026
0mins
Source: CNBC
Home Depot's stock is down 3.04% in pre-market trading, hitting a 52-week low, as broader market indices like the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 also decline.
The company reported a 4.8% increase in sales for Q1 FY2026, totaling $41.8 billion, despite a slight decline in net income to $3.3 billion. Comparable sales in the U.S. rose by 0.4%, indicating stable consumer demand amid economic uncertainty. However, the stock's decline reflects sector rotation as investors react to broader market weakness, despite the company's reaffirmed fiscal guidance for 2026.
This performance highlights Home Depot's resilience in a challenging market, but the stock's movement suggests that investor sentiment is influenced by external market conditions rather than the company's strong sales figures.
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Analyst Views on HD
Wall Street analysts forecast HD stock price to rise
23 Analyst Rating
17 Buy
5 Hold
1 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 321.210
Low
320.00
Averages
401.47
High
441.00
Current: 321.210
Low
320.00
Averages
401.47
High
441.00
About HD
The Home Depot, Inc. is a home improvement retailer. It offers its customers an assortment of home improvement products, building materials, lawn and garden products, decor products, and facilities maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products, in stores and online. It also provides a number of services, including home improvement installation services, and tool and equipment rental. It operates over 2,359 stores located throughout the U.S. (including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam), Canada, and Mexico. Its stores average over 104,000 square feet of enclosed space, with over 24,000 additional square feet of outside garden area. It also maintains a network of distribution and fulfillment centers, as well as mobile applications and e-commerce websites in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It serves two primary customer groups, including both do-it-yourself (DIY) and do-it-for-me (DIFM) customers and professional customers (Pros).
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Supply-Demand Imbalance: The U.S. housing market faces a supply-demand imbalance, as housing prices surged during the pandemic due to low interest rates, but now the rapid price increases have outpaced household income growth, leading to multi-decade lows in housing affordability.
- Traffic and Revenue Growth: Despite a 3% year-over-year decline in traffic to Zillow's mobile apps and website, the company achieved an 18% revenue increase, demonstrating its profitability during market downturns, supported by a massive user base of 220 million monthly active users.
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See More
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- Supply Shortage: New construction has failed to compensate for the shortfall in existing home sales, resulting in persistently low housing supply, which exacerbates the supply-demand imbalance and affects housing price stability.
- Weak Zillow Performance: Zillow's stock is hovering around a three-year low, and despite a large user base, a 3% decline in traffic in the latest quarter poses challenges for future revenue growth amid a sluggish market outlook.
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See More
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- Lowe's Performance Overview: In fiscal 2025, Lowe's achieved revenue of $86 billion, reflecting a growth of approximately 3%, with a net income of about $6.7 billion and a net margin of 7.7%, indicating its stability and profitability in the home improvement market.
- Home Depot Highlights: Home Depot reported nearly $165 billion in revenue for 2025, growing around 3.2%, with a net income of approximately $14.2 billion and a net margin of 8.6%, showcasing its strong performance and profitability in the market.
- Competitive Risk Analysis: Lowe's faces intense competition from retail giants like Walmart and Amazon, with its performance heavily reliant on the health of the housing market and consumer spending, while Home Depot is sensitive to high interest rates that may slow down large renovation projects.
- Valuation Comparison: Lowe's forward P/E ratio stands at 17x, lower than Home Depot's 20.7x, and its P/S ratio is 1.4x compared to Home Depot's 1.9x, indicating a more attractive value proposition and growth potential moving forward.
See More
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- Market Positioning Differences: Lowe's focuses on DIY consumers with 1,748 stores and $86 billion in revenue for fiscal 2025, yielding a net income of approximately $6.7 billion and a net margin of 7.7%, while Home Depot serves a broader customer base with nearly $165 billion in revenue and a net income of about $14.2 billion, reflecting a net margin of 8.6%.
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- Competitive Risk Analysis: Lowe's faces intense competition from Walmart and Amazon, with its performance heavily reliant on the health of the housing market, whereas Home Depot may be impacted by high interest rates affecting large renovation projects, necessitating both companies to maintain competitiveness in pricing and service to avoid market share loss.
See More
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- Stock Recommendations: Cramer recommended four stocks for new members to buy, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia, all of which demonstrate strong growth potential, particularly in their AI-related businesses.
- Market Outlook: Despite challenges faced by Meta and Microsoft, Cramer remains cautiously optimistic about their future performance, suggesting that these companies could achieve breakthroughs in the evolving AI landscape.
- Emerging Investment Opportunities: Stocks like Arm Holdings and Broadcom are showing strong performance, particularly in the data center and AI chip sectors, reflecting robust market demand for related technologies, making them worth watching for long-term growth potential.
See More
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- Outstanding Performance by Arm: Arm's stock surged 97.9% since our position initiation, driven by robust demand expectations for CPUs, particularly in the AI sector, with projected revenues of $20 billion this year greatly enhancing its royalty business.
- Cybersecurity Stocks Rebound: CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks saw increases of 60.6% and 53.8%, respectively, and despite ZScaler's negative impact, the market remains optimistic about their growth prospects, with price targets raised by multiple Wall Street firms.
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See More
