Home Depot (The)

Pricing is good but not absolute. The company has demonstrated the ability to pass through category inflation and protect gross margin near 33% to 34%, yet it operates in highly price‑visible, partly commodity‑linked categories where promotional intensity and lumber or building materials deflation can pressure tickets.

Private brands, attachment, and Pro‑focused assortments carry better unit economics and should allow selective price realization. SRS and GMS add specialized lines with service‑led differentiation, but specialty distribution margins are structurally tighter than retail, limiting headline expansion.

Management guides operating margin near 13% for fiscal 2025, implying sustained discipline but not latent step‑function pricing. Over multi‑year cycles, mix shift toward Pro and services should permit low single‑digit annual price realization.