It is no secret that the parking lots at home improvement giant Home Depot (HD) have been the stage of controversy lately. The Republican Party of Florida tried to make hay while the sun shined, and produced a line of goods called “The Deport Depot.” But Home Depot fought back, and investors did not take it well. Perhaps thinking Home Depot should focus less on politics and more on selling hammers, investors sent shares down fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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The “Deport Depot” line of merchandise looked a lot like Home Depot’s own logo, with blocky orange stencil-style letters over a black background. Florida Republicans then raced to put the logo on everything from shirts to mugs and beyond. But outcry followed, and the Republicans pulled the parodical product line.
Home Depot took what amounted to the high road, and declared, “We don’t allow any organization to use our branding or logo for their commercial purposes, and we did not approve this use.” Though the Florida GOP might have been able to stand on parody and fair use applications for copyright and trademark issues, it likely figured discretion was the better part of valor here, and pulled the merchandise line almost hours after it first showed up. Though it is safe to say that Home Depot would have fought this. It already faces concerns that it is getting payoffs from ICE, and it really does not need further comparisons.
Watch Out for that Ladder
Meanwhile, Home Depot has a bit of a ladder problem. More specifically, a line of ladders sold under the Werner brand name are being recalled, many of which can be found at Home Depot. The ladders pose a “falling hazard,” reports note. That may sound odd in that every ladder poses a falling hazard in one way or another, but this one may be particularly dangerous.
Apparently, reports note, the ladders’ locking mechanism may jam, and thus not fully lock in place. Without that locking mechanism, the ladder may unexpectedly fold and send those on the ladder crashing down accordingly. Already, there are 14 reports of a range of injuries that resulted from the ladders’ faulty lock mechanism.
Is Home Depot a Good Long-Term Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on HD stock based on 19 Buys and six Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 10% rally in its share price over the past year, the average HD price target of $430.68 per share implies 8.65% upside potential.
