File this under the "You can’t make this stuff up" category.
Home Depot’s Board thanks Tom Ridge for making the company’s first quarter of 2003 by voting him onto its board of directors. In February 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (led by Tom Ridge at the time) directed Americans to find some "duct tape and a secure room and a couple of gallons of water to tide you over for a day or two in the event" of a chemical attack. I still remember the pictures of frantic shoppers at Home Depot loading up on duct tape in hopes of saving themselves from the impending chemical attack.
This of course led to the "Duct Tape Bottom" in the stock market in March of that year. It’s one of the all-time great panic bottoms in stock market history.
And I thought the Dick Cheney – Halliburton connection was suspect.
As my favorite comedian, Lewis Black, has said "Our leaders could have calmly stood up and told everyone ‘This is a difficult time for all of us but if we all act sensibly, we’ll get through this together’. Instead, they yelled ‘Aaahhhhh…we’re all gonna die….buy some duct tape and plastic wrap and hide in the basement!!!!’" It’s akin to telling schoolchildren to hide under their desks in case of a nuclear attack.
Anyway, if I were long HD, I’d reconsider holding the position. I’ve never been a big fan of Robert "Jack Welch wanna-be" Nardelli nor Home Depot’s competitve position relative to Lowe’s. This just solidifies my negative view on the stock.