The Home Depot- Company Research Report

About Company

The Home Depot, Incorporated, also popularly named as Home Depot, is the biggest home improvement retail chain in the US. It is a provider of construction materials, services, and equipment.  

It was incorporated in Cobb County, Georgia. Nonetheless, the head office of The Home Depot is situated in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Home Depot runs several big-box pattern outlets throughout the United States (incorporating Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia), all ten Canadian provinces, as well as all the thirty-two states in Mexico including Mexico City. 

Currently, The Home Depot is the proprietor of the Home Depot Pro, erstwhile MRO company Interline Brands, with seventy supply hubs throughout the United States.

The stocks of The Home Depot are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the ticker symbol HD. Besides, it’s a component of the following indices:

• S&P 100 
• DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average)
• S&P 500 

As of 2021 March, The Home Depot is present in 2,312 locations across the world.

As of 2021, the company has more than 500,000 employees.

Who were the founders of The Home Depot?

• Arthur Blank
• Bernard Marcus
• Pat Farrah
• Ron Brill
• Kenneth Langone

Which is the subsidiary company of The Home Depot?

The name of the subsidiary company of The Home Depot is The Home Depot Pro. 

Presence of The Home Depot

The Home Depot has its footprint in the following locations:

• The United States
• Guam (from 2007)
• Puerto Rico (from 1998)
• US Virgin Islands (from 2003)
• Mexico (from 2001)
• Canada (from 1994)

Products of the Home Depot

The Home Depot offers the following products to its customers:

• Gears 
• Household appliances 
• Constructors hardware 
• Hardware 
• Construction materials 
• Timber 
• Sanitation 
• Paint 
• Garden provisions and plants
• Flooring 

As of 2020, the company enjoys the 26th rank on the Fortune 500 ratings of the biggest corporations in the US in terms of gross revenue.

For the 2nd Quarter of 2020, The Home Depot disclosed sales to the tune of US $38.1 billion that signified a development of 23.4% from the corresponding time, the earlier year. The net income for the quarter ending on 2nd August grew 27% to the US $4.3 billion. The increase in sales took place due to the Americans living indoors as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic scenario. In the third quarter of 2020 ending 1st November, the company stated revenue to the tune of US $33.5 billion; it symbolizes a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 24%.

Marketing

The Home Depot came up with the new catchword How Doers Get More Done on 5th December 2019. It substituted the earlier catchword ‘More saving. More doing’. This was launched on the 18th March 2009 flyer, substituting You can do it. We can help that had been in place for six years. 

Other catchwords utilized in the last two and a half decades include the following:

• In the early 90s – The Home Depot, Low prices are just the beginning 
• In the late 90s – When you’re at the Home Depot, You’ll feel right at home 
• From 1999-2003 – The Home Depot: First In Home Improvement!

US Stores division

In 2014, Marc Powers, a long-term worker of the company, was appointed as the head of the US outlets department of The Home Depot. Powers substituted Marvin Ellison, who had quit for holding the position of the CEO of J.C. Penney. In 2016 January, The Home Depot declared the exit of Marc as the department head, and he was to be substituted by Ann-Marie Campbell, one more old-timer staff. Campbell served as one of the assistants of Powers as well. The alteration in governance is in force since 1st February 2016. Ann-Marie Campbell has been serving the company for more than three decades, commencing as a treasurer in a South Florida outlet. Of late, she has been serving as the President of the Southern Division of The Home Depot.

Supply Hubs 

The Home Depot runs more than ninety supply hubs across the United States for catering to the needs of more than two thousand The Home Depot outlets.

Interline Brands

The Home Depot Pro was previously known as Interline Brands. The name was changed in 2018 and the company operates more than ninety supply hubs across Canada, the US, as well as Puerto Rico that fulfil consumer requirements for MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) provisions.

Interline Brands trademarks include the following:

• Barnett (servicer provisions, MRO)
• Wilmar Industries (MRO)
• US Lock (security equipment, keys)
• SupplyWorks (wrapping, custodian, MRO)
• Maintenance USA (MRO)
• Hardware Express (hardware provisions)
• Leran Gas Products (propane fittings)

Online presence of The Home Depot

After launching the domain called homedepot.com, the company drew 120 million visitants per year as a minimum by 2008, as laid down by a study performed by Compete.com. HomeDepot.com portal runs five call centers in the US and they are situated in the following locations:

• Atlanta, Georgia 
• Kennesaw, Georgia 
• Ogden, Utah  
• Marietta, Georgia 
• Tempe, Arizona 

Furthermore, The Home Depot online services provide in-shop pickup and replacement of products.

Special brands

The Home Depot solely bears various key brand names including the following:

• Behr paints
• Chem-Dry (fabric cleaning, rug cleaning, plaster and roofing services)
• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (interior arrangement, alfresco furniture)
• Homelite (power and outdoor equipment)
• American Woodmark cabinetwork
• Ryobi and Ridgid (power equipment)
• Thomasville Furniture Industries cabinetwork

Besides, the retail giant has its indigenous home brands:

• Workforce (shelving, utensils, electric cords, storage lockers, tarpaulins, work lights, paintbrushes)
• Husky (equipment)
• Hampton Bay (illumination fittings, ceiling fans, alfresco furniture)
• HDX
• Commercial Electric
• Glacier Bay (spigots, kitchen sinks, and so on)
• Home Decorators Collection

The Home Depot Fuel Centres

The company launched screening fuel centres at a number of its outlets in 2006. Initially, the two openings “Home Depot Fuel” C-Store (convenience stores) were based in Tennessee. Afterwards, four extra sample outlets were set up in the following places:

• Smyrna, Tennessee 
• Acworth, Georgia 
• Winchester, Tennessee
• Greensboro, Georgia 

Stephen Holmes, the Corporate Communication Vice President of The Home Depot declared in 2012 that the firm was not intending to set up extra fuel hubs or expansion in that region.

The Home Depot Management 

Craig Menear

Craig Menear is the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Home Depot. He leads the company with a steadfast concentration on offering a smooth and organized shopping experience to the customers that are essentially a combination of the digital and material worlds through manoeuvring the expediency of its outlets, digital feelings, creative product offers, and dependable distribution alternatives for DIY and Pro clients.

In 2014 November, Menear was nominated as the President and CEO of the company. Subsequently, he was made the Chairman in 2015 February. He has been associated with The Home Depot for more than two decades. During this extensive stint, Craig has played many key roles across departments like marketing, procurement, supply chain, selling, storing, and online activities. Before becoming a part of The Home Depot, Menear was employed in a range of positions in the home centre, mass, as well as special deals.

Craig Menear has a BA degree from Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University. He was rewarded with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the same university for his industry achievements and dedication to humanitarian endeavours. 

Presently, Craig is a part of the BoD of the following:

• Atlanta Committee for Progress 
• The Retail Industry Leaders Association 
• Camp Southern Ground
• and 3DE by Junior Achievement of Georgia

Ted Decker

Ted Decker serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of the company. He has the responsibility for the following operations:

• Worldwide supply chain 
• Worldwide store activities 
• Real estate 
• International service and sales 
• Marketing 
• Selling 
• Online planning    

Earlier, Decker was employed as Executive Vice President and principal dealer of merchandising spanning over 6 years. He had the responsibility of handling all online and store selling divisions, merchandising policymaking, vendor supervision, in-shop setting, and services.

In 2000, Decker became a part of the company as Director, business valuation. Throughout the last two decades, Ted has occupied various strategic roles in the organization such as the following: 

• VP and Senior VP of strategic business development 
• Senior director of business valuation 
• Senior VP of retail finance

Before becoming an employee of The Home Depot, Ted was involved in finance, strategic planning, and business development with Scott Paper Company and Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Before that stint, Ted occupied different corporate lending, finance, as well as credit berths with PNC Bank. Decker has significant across-the-board overseas experience since he stayed and functioned in Australia and England.

Ted has a bachelor’s degree from The College of William and Mary in English and a postgraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Business Administration.

Ann-Marie Campbell

Ann-Marie Campbell serves as the Executive Vice President of the United States stores and overseas activities. She also looks after the sales, supply chain, planning, and procurement operations for The Home Depot Mexico and The Home Depot Canada.

Earlier, Ann-Marie worked as Executive VP of the United States stores. There Campbell headed the company’s 3 American operating segments consisting of around two thousand US outlets.

In 1985, Ann-Marie Campbell commenced her professional life with The Home Depot in the position of a teller in Southern Florida. Ann-Marie acquired her initial classes in merchandising from her grandma. She stayed in Jamaica, and was a proprietor of a tiny furniture shop, and enjoyed goodwill for offering amicable, first-rate customer service. Following an extensive stint of over three and a half decades with The Home Depot, Campbell fetches a profound discernment of The Home Depot’s functions, philosophy, and clientele.

As time passed by, Ann-Marie worked in a range of roles, such as regional VP, district manager, and store manager. Campbell has worked as Vice President of special orders and merchandising, Vice President of operations, President of the Southern Division, Vice President of vendor services, and Vice President of retail marketing and sales for Home Depot Direct.

Ann-Marie Campbell has a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in philosophy and also an MBA degree from the same university. Campbell is an associate of the National Scholars Honor Society and Beta Gamma Sigma, which is a worldwide business honor society.

The Home Depot Financials (2019)

Stock Performance of The Home Depot

On August 14, 2021 HD closed trading with NYSE at US$ 331.32 at 4:00 PM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time).

The viewpoint of The Home Depot

The heritage and achievements of The Home Depot are founded on a steadfast commitment to 8 courses of action:

• Outstanding customer services 
• Looking after all the staff
• Generating shareholder values
• Admiration for all individuals
• Returning
• Enterprising life-force 
• Performing the appropriate things
• Developing powerful associations 

The Home Depot runs its operations with the ambition of offering outstanding service to its partners, clientele, stakeholders, and communities. This is the definition of leadership to them.

Disclaimer: This writeup is only for academic interests and one should not use it as an investment consultation. It is always sensible to talk to your investment advice-giver before taking any investment decision.