Home Depot (The)

Capital allocation has been consistently rational: invest organically in supply chain and technology, pay an attractive and growing dividend, and repurchase shares when prudent. Recent strategy emphasizes inorganic growth to accelerate Pro penetration.

SRS at about 18.25 billion and GMS at about 5.5 billion enterprise value materially expand the Pro platform and TAM by roughly 50 billion, though they raise integration and working capital intensity. Management paused buybacks to fund and digest these deals and indicated a deleveraging focus back toward 2x.

Track record with HD Supply reacquisition and smaller bolt‑ons gives some confidence, but we will watch for synergy realization without structural margin drag. Capex guidance of roughly 2.5% of sales is appropriate for moat reinforcement.