Home Depot (HD) is a retailer that provides a variety of home improvement products and services to both DIY and professional end-users. As of 11:00AM CST the company is currently trading around $98.40 (+0.22%), on the upper end of its 52 week range of 73.96-99.36. The stock is up overall on the year after trading in a tight $4.00 range from January through August. HD is set to report earnings pre-market on 11/18.
Historical earnings data on HD from the last 8 quarters has been largely bullish, with the stock trading higher 7 out of 8 sessions immediately following the EPS release, with an average move over those sessions of 3.2%. The options market is currently implying a move of about $3.50 in the stock by this week’s November expiration, which implies a 3.5% move on earnings, just slightly higher than the recent historical average. Coupled with Home Depot’s bullish tendency to trade higher post-earnings as emphasized above, I will be looking to put on a long position into the earnings release.