Dow Today: Home Depot (HD) Leads The Day Higher, Cisco Systems (CSCO) Lags

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading up 29 points (+0.2%) at 13,198 as of Tuesday, Aug 14, 2012, 9:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 21.9 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 661.9 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,776 issues advancing vs. 866 declining with 181 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Home Depot (NYSE:HD), which is sporting a $1.34 gain (+2.5%) bringing the stock to $54.16. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 10.14 points or roughly accounting for 35% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for Home Depot currently sits at 1.9 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 11.7 million shares.

Home Depot has a market cap of $80.8 billion and is part of the services sector and retail industry. Shares are up 26.2% year to date as of Monday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.2%.

The Home Depot, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a home improvement retailer. The company's stores sell building materials, and home improvement and lawn and garden products to do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me (at D-I-F-M), and professional customers. The company has a P/E ratio of 20, equal to the average retail industry P/E ratio and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Home Depot as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full Home Depot Ratings Report.

Holding back the Dow today is Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO), which is lagging the broader Dow index with a 12-cent decline (-0.7%) bringing the stock to $17.22. Volume for Cisco Systems currently sits at two million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 41.3 million shares.

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Cisco Systems has a market cap of $91.92 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. Shares are down 3% year to date as of Monday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 1.8%.

Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells Internet protocol (IP)-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 12.9, above the average computer hardware industry P/E ratio of 12.6 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Cisco Systems as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, growth in earnings per share and increase in net income. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

• You can view the full Cisco Systems Ratings Report.

 

For more information on Home Depot Inc. click any of the following:

• Home Depot Inc. Stock Price

• Home Depot Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Home Depot Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Home Depot Inc. Earnings

• Home Depot Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Home Depot Inc. Growth Rates

• Home Depot Inc. Balance Sheet

• Home Depot Inc. Cash Flow

• Home Depot Inc. Income Statement