Home Depot Inc at Goldman Global Retailing Conference Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : <_ALACRA_META_ABSTRACT>I think it's pretty much on everyone's minds. There are two buckets of questions, I think, that we get asked the most about when it comes to Home Depot. And maybe we can start with the first, which is just the health of the US consumer, your outlook for housing. I think it's fair to say that it seems like there was a little more momentum in the business in the second quarter. You saw a broader swath of growth than you've seen in some time. So maybe we can start there, and you can talk about what you're seeing from the consumer and why now and what you expect?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : That's great. Yeah, it's definitely a different tone than it was last year. So it's great to hear. But the other thing that's maybe a little bit different from last year is tariffs. And Billy, you had talked again on the quarterly call just that we should not expect to see broad-based price increases on your product. Can you walk through a little bit how you've been able to manage this? Half your business is -- imports are outside the US? So how is the supply chain functioned in this very volatile environment? How is the merchandising team operated? And where is the mitigation come from?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : And then could you just maybe talk to assortment then assortment planning in the context of this environment? You're protecting the project. So I would imagine you're not compromising the assortment there as much. But maybe for holiday or Halloween or more of the discretionary occasions, have you had to work through that assortment a little bit differently than your past?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Okay. So that was the kind of the first bucket of questions we got the macro and tariff. The second is about the Complex Pro. And there are a couple of different directions we can go with this. But maybe we could start with capital allocation. You have a long history now of making acquisitions. We've always been very consistent with these acquisitions and acquiring companies that can help you build out capabilities, HD Supply and Interline, for example, in the MRO space and now more recently, SRS and GMS. So could you maybe talk about how you're viewing your acquisition strategy going forward and in the context of your capital allocation priorities?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : And this question has come up before, but in terms of where you are with the Complex Pro initiative and strategy. Do you feel like you're in a place where you have the right platform now given these acquisitions?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : If I can maybe just pivot a little bit to some of the investments that you've made. And I think what, again, came across on the second quarter call is some of the benefits or lift you're seeing as a result of your investments in speeding up the supply chain. I know it's something the company is excited about. Is there a way you can quantify what lift you're seeing from this increased speed and how important it is to, again, just taking more share?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Great. Thank you for that. In the last five minutes here, we have five questions we're asking every company that's up here on stage with us today, just meant to kind of be rapid fire questions. We've touched on some of them already. But the health of the consumer in the second half environment, do you expect the environment in the second half of '25 to be better the better, worse or the same than the first half?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : On pricing, we also talked about this a little bit as well. You've only started to push through some price. Have you seen any elasticity impact as a result of some of those pricing actions or do you anticipate that?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : The third question is around inventory, just your expectations for inventory growth in the second half.

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Our fourth question is on margins and your expectation for non-tariff margin drivers into '26, so freight, wages, materials.

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : And then the last question is just around the competitive landscape. I think, in general, across retail, we have seen a tick up in bankruptcies and store closures, not in the home improvement space necessarily, but more broad retail. Do you think market share consolidation speed up, slow down or be about the same in '26?

Question: Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate the time. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 03, 2025 / 2:20PM, HD.N - Home Depot Inc at Goldman Global Retailing Conference