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Non-Tech : Home Depot (HD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Carter Patterson who wrote (177)	5/29/1998 8:55:00 AM
From: Xpiderman	Respond to of 1169

The INVESTools Advisory ( investools.com ), May 26-29, 1998 Good Times At Home Improvement Retailer (HD) Friday, May 29, 1998 Times are good at Home Depot (HD). On May 19, the firm reported Q1 earnings that bested Wall Street estimates by $0.02/share, net sales of $7.12 billion vs. $5.66 billion last year, and a seven percent hike in same store sales. A few days later, management announced a two-for-one stock split and boosted their pre-split dividend, and the CEO went on record as "committed to 23-25% growth." Aggressive expansion is fueling this sales boom. Home Depot operates over 620 retail warehouse-style stores; the firm added 32 in Q1 and plans 140 new stores in FY 1999. The firm has plenty of room to grow as it commands just 14% of the highly fragmented, do-it-yourself $135 billion home improvement industry. The industry should grow five percent annually through FY 1999 as analysts estimate over 75 million US homes will need repair. Bernie Schaeffer says Home Depot's compelling business story is reflected in a technical picture so strong that he recommends using options to bet on continued growth. Shares have enjoyed "a monster uptrend" since January 1997 with "near perfect support" along its 50-day moving average (DMA). A bullish cross of the 10- and 20-DMAs indicates the current rally has further to go. Schaeffer also sees an implied volatility of 30% vs. the stock's historical 26% volatility, and he pocketed the difference by collecting a higher premium on the trade.

To: Carter Patterson who wrote (177)	5/29/1998 10:05:00 AM
From: Byelow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1169

Carter: Yours is a very reasonable question and one I recently faced in making the decision whether to purchase LOW or HD. You may wish to consider some of the due diligence work I found and that is posted at message #45 on the LOW board: <<Some info on the quantitative side rather than the subjective side that may help you and others in your evaluation of LOW & HD. I just received my new S&P reports dated 3/28/98 on LOW & HD. Some cogent points you may want to consider. LOW HD Value of $10,000 invested 5 years ago: $60,348 $19,998 Est FY Ending 1/31/99 EPS $2.40 $2.00 Act FY Ending 1/31/98 EPS $2.05 $1.55 Act FY Ending 1/31/97 EPS $1.74 $1.29 Act FY Ending 1/31/96 EPS $1.41 $1.03 Act FY Ending 1/31/95 EPS $1.44 $0.88 Tangible Book Value per Share $14.50 $9.20 Dividends Paid Since: 1961 1987 Dividend Rate per Share 0.22 0.20 Shares Outstanding (Millions) 174.9 731.5 Market Cap (Billions) $12.4 $48.5 LOW is about 25% the size of HD but has outearned HD for every year in the past 5. LOW pays more dividend and it's tangible book value is 57.6% more than HD for every share. The last five years the LOW investment has appreciated over 300% greater than the equivalent investment in HD. Sometimes bigger isn't better! You make your own choice!>> Also have a look at a chart for YTD: quicken.excite.com As an investor I'm interested in making the most return for my hard earned bucks and that's Pepsi, not Coke, right now. This may change and then I'll jump on the Coke bandwagon. I learned a long time ago to love women and buy stocks and not to mix up the two. This isn't meant to incite a flame war on the HD board, but just to say that reasonable people can reach different conclusions about two stocks based on their investment goals. Here's hoping that we may all pick winners everytime! Byelow