The Home Depot, Inc.
The Home Depot, Inc. operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States and internationally. It sells various building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden products, and décor products, as well as facilities maintenance, repair, and operations products. The company also offers installation services for flooring, water heaters, baths, garage doors, cabinets, cabinet makeovers, countertops, sheds, furnaces and central air systems, windows, and window coverings. In addition, it provides tool and equipment rental services. The company serves consumers, such as do-it-yourself homeowners and do-it-for-me customers; and professional renovators/remodelers, general contractors, homebuilders, maintenance professionals, handymen, property managers, building service contractors and specialty tradespeople, such as electricians, landscapers, insulation installers, plumbers, painters, pool contractors, roofers, and wallboard and ceiling installers. It sells its products through websites and its mobile applications, including homedepot.com; homedepot.ca and homedepot.com.mx; blinds.com, justblinds.com, and americanblinds.com for custom window coverings; constructionresourcesusa.com or design-oriented surfaces, appliances, and architectural specialty products; thecompanystore.com, an online site for textiles and décor products; hdsupply.com for maintenance, repair, and operations products and related services; and srsdistribution.com, heritagelandscapesupplygroup.com, heritagepoolsupplygroup.com, and gms.com for roofing and building materials, landscape, and pool products; and The Home Depot stores. The Home Depot, Inc. was incorporated in 1978 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
What does it do?
Home Depot is the largest home improvement store in the United States — think of it as a giant warehouse where you can buy everything from lumber and paint to refrigerators and garden tools. They operate about 2,300 stores across the US, Canada, and Mexico, each one averaging around 100,000 square feet. Beyond just selling products, they also send professionals to your home to install things like flooring, water heaters, or a new garage door. If you've ever renovated a kitchen or fixed a leaky pipe, there's a good chance you've been in one.
Home Depot is one of the most reliable barometers of the US housing market — when people are buying, selling, or renovating homes, Home Depot profits. Right now, the housing market is under pressure from high mortgage rates, which is keeping existing homeowners locked in place and pushing them to renovate rather than move, creating a complicated but important dynamic for the company. At a $327 billion market cap, it's one of the largest retailers in the world, so what happens to Home Depot tells investors a lot about the health of the broader American consumer.
How does it make money?
Home Depot generated $164.7 billion in revenue in its latest fiscal year, up from $159.5 billion the prior year — a solid 3.3% increase. The vast majority of that comes from in-store and online product sales across categories like building materials, tools, appliances, and garden supplies. A smaller but growing slice comes from services like professional installation, which tends to carry higher profit margins. They also increasingly court professional contractors — plumbers, electricians, builders — who make large, repeat purchases and represent a disproportionately high share of total sales.
Why do investors care?
The big growth story at Home Depot right now is their push into the 'Pro' customer segment — professional tradespeople and contractors who spend far more per visit than a typical DIY homeowner. They acquired a company called SRS Distribution in 2024 for around $18 billion, which dramatically expands their reach into roofing, landscaping, and pool supply trades. If mortgage rates eventually come down and the housing market reopens, Home Depot would likely see a significant lift in big-ticket renovation projects. The bull case requires rates to fall, Pro spending to keep growing, and the SRS acquisition to pay off.
Deep Dive
MemberA full investor briefing on The Home Depot, Inc. — history, leadership, risks, and outlook.