Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Senior who wrote (22169)	9/30/2005 12:06:50 AM
From: E_K_S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78753

Paul - I too like HD but I am not convinced we have seen the low. I used to own this stock which I bought in the low 30's and had it called away at $40 last year. One way I buy stocks is to sell a few naked puts at a strike price where I would like to own shares. Today they will pay almost a $1.00/share if you buy shares at $35 strike price in January. I may sell a few naked puts. Here is a link to an article dated 2003 (but still relevant today) which shows those fortune 500 companies that own the most real estate. Home Depot is on this list and that is one of the reasons why I like this company. (http://www.buildings.com/Articles/detail.asp?ArticleID=1525) From the article:... The Home Depot Inc. (142) Atlanta, GA Operates a total of 1,532 stores, including 1,370 Home Depot stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, which collectively consist of about 137 million square feet; Home Depot owns approximately 82 percent of them. The company’s executive, corporate staff, and financial office occupies approximately 1.77 million square feet of leased and owned space in Atlanta. Home Depot also occupies an aggregate of about 3.3 million square feet for divisional store support centers, subsidiary support centers, and subsidiary customer support centers...." Paul - look at this article and notice the companies that have been merged, bought out and those that are leaders in their field. What do you think of Boeing? Finally, I think Home Depot is doing a good job and is still very competitive. I have been remodeling my home and buying most everything over the Internet or through Home Depot. Many of my special order items are still processed through the Home Depot special order desk. HD is getting better on integrating their Web portal between the manufacturer, distributor, and the end user. It still needs work so it can be one click from end user to manufacturer. Home Depot has the distribution and delivery advantage over every internet seller out there. I might find an item $5.00 cheaper from an Internet vendor but after delivery costs, HD beats them hands down. My cherry wood door from Costa Rica was not only $20 cheaper than my online Internet supplier but I did not have to pay the $300.00 delivery charge. HD's delivery fee was $0.00 as long as I picked it up at my local store. Therefore, I believe their business model works well now and will even work better once they integrate their Web portal with their manufactures for one click estimates, ordering and delivery. Contractors will be able to order any "special order" item from any vendor in the world that can be picked up (or returned) from their local Home Depot store. HD corporate needs to work on better electronic billing. They are not able to link their customer credit card payments to auto pay through client's checking. You still must cut a paper check or initiate a bill pay request each invoice period. It's still sloppy and can be improved. They have however implemented an electronic credit/debit voucher for all items that are returned. No need to bring in those paper invoices anymore. Just use the tracking on your customer or corporate HD charge card. Every transaction is encoded in their system and returns are credited accordingly. Many of these changes were made in the last 12 months and were driven by their large IT investments made last year. The company will be using the new RF tags for inventory control like Wall Mart. This should further help them manage their store inventory levels. I like Target (TGT) and Home Depot (HD) in the retailing sector. HD at 15 PE and with a dividend of 1% beats out TGT at 19 PE and a 0.8% dividend. EKS

To: Paul Senior who wrote (22169)	1/18/2006 5:55:34 PM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 78753

I'll punch up my Chevron position. Not sure though about CVX ability to replace their oil/gas reserves. That could be a key issue for them (and others in the sector). Additionally, Nigeria and Venezuela seem to becoming bigger problems for Chevron there. Meanwhile, with a forward p/e of 8 and a 3% div. yield, I'll take shares. I don't expect the stock to outpace juniors, but this large-cap integrated oiler should be okay for conservative accounts with a long-term perspective. "should" "be okay" "conservative" "long term" "perspective" --- whatever any of that means. -g-