Home Depot, Inc. HD

The hardware store cooperative’s owner is consolidating certain operations.

Consumer confidence just hit its worst level in over a decade, yet the stocks that depend on American shoppers are barely flinching. Understanding why that calm exists, and how long it can last, matters far more than the headline number.

Costco Wholesale (COST) stock rose 2.9% in the first session after its Q4 FY2026 report. The shares trade at 46.4 times earnings, more than twice the S&P 500's 21.9, so holders are counting on growth that keeps coming. What should a Costco holder take from a quarter that beat estimates and lifted the stock, yet left questions about whether its price cuts are driving more sales.

Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi takes a look at the biggest stories as the trading day kicks off, weighing in on Micron (MU), SanDisk (SNDK), Jensen Huang's big third quarter, and more.Rubrik (RBRK) CEO Bipul Sinha sits down with Sozzi for a conversation about the state of tech and cybersecurity.

Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi shares his biggest market surprises of the third quarter, including bitcoin's (BTC-USD) strongest quarter since 2024 and the surprising breadth of the market, with roughly 75% of S&P 500 (^GSPC) stocks trading below their 50-day moving averages.

For five years, the home improvement giant showered its owners with cash, yet the stock itself fell behind. Here's what that trade-off actually delivered.

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) are selling into the same basic market, but the home-improvement business is changing. Higher borrowing costs and low housing turnover have made homeowners more reluctant to take on large remodeling projects. That has been reflected in both stocks’ performance over the last couple of years. […]

Both home improvement giants have taken a beating this year, but one stock offers retirement investors far more than a discounted price tag, and the difference comes down to where each company stands when the housing market stays frozen.

Wall Street has set ambitious price targets for the stocks in this article. While this suggests attractive upside potential, it’s important to remain skeptical because analysts face institutional pressures that can sometimes lead to overly optimistic forecasts.

Lowe's Companies (LOW) generates free cash flow equal to 6.6% of its market value, against 4.5% for the median S&P 500 company. Counting its debt as part of the price, the yield is 5.0%. A yield that high usually means either a business on sale or one the market expects to shrink. Will its $7 billion of yearly cash keep coming, and its debt stay covered, while do-it-yourself shoppers hold back.

A rapid run-up in mortgage rates to around 7.5% and slumping revenues at Lennar and KB Home have pushed the S&P 500 Homebuilding Index down 3.2% this month.

Every so often, a decades-old company gets recognized for a track record most investors have stopped thinking about. A Wall Street Journal analysis recently found that The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) has been the highest-returning U.S. stock of the past 45 years. It turned a $1,000 investment made at its 1981 IPO into roughly $16 […]