5 Stocks to Buy Before Interest Rate Hikes

In this article, we discuss 5 stocks to buy before interest rate hikes. If you want our detailed analysis of the stock market, go directly to 10 Stocks to Buy Before Interest Rate Hikes. 

5. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 58

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is the leading home improvement retailer in the United States, supplying home appliances, tools, hardware, lumber, building materials, paint, plumbing, flooring, garden supplies, and plants. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) beat market consensus estimates for earnings and revenue in the third quarter of 2021. 

Truist analyst Scot Ciccarelli on January 12 upgraded The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $448, up from $420. The analyst is positive on key industry drivers including supply/demand imbalances in the housing market, pandemic-driven behavioral changes, and aging housing infrastructure driving significant incremental home improvement growth. He further stated that The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) will continue to gain market share from its size and scale benefits, as well as enhanced supply chain capabilities.

On November 18, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) declared a $1.65 per share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. The dividend was distributed on December 16, to shareholders of record on December 2. 

A total of 58 hedge funds in the third quarter database of Insider Monkey were long The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), with stakes equaling $4.38 billion. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital is one of the prominent stakeholders of the company, owning a $355.1 million position. 

Here is what Ensemble Capital Management has to say about The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“On the more positive side, we saw notable performance contribution from Home Depot. In the midst of a housing shortage and rising home prices, Americans turned to home improvement projects with Home Depot’s startlingly fast growth in 2020 continuing throughout 2021. With each quarter that passed showing a continuation of strong growth rather than the slowdown that many investors expected, the stock led the S&P 500 for most of the year and turned in a heady 27% rally in the fourth quarter to close out the year. Notably, while Do It Yourself homeowners did indeed shop at Home Depot less than they did during record setting 2020, almost half of the company’s revenue comes from Pro contractors where strong growth continues.”