 How much of this is also thanks to strong economic growth as President Trump likes to point to low unemployment figures as well I'm not even gonna bring in Pinterest here as inspiration for all these DIY projects. Yeah, well it is I think you have a lot of different things are happening all at once you have you have lowest unemployment in a long time You have higher wages you have the the pent-up demand right because a lot of projects haven't been done for many years and Plus add to that the I think the ease of the experience and the incredible customer experience that you get at a home depot Or a loaser in ace. It's incredible. It's easy to shop. They have so many SKUs But good SKUs so they did a project that the home depot did a project recently where they went by went in and said Okay, what should we what should we sell and they did it and you go in there and it's a great experience Melissa way in here what is working and we should also say too in the backdrop of this I mean both of these stocks lows and home depots higher and with the devastating effects of Hurricane Florence many people expect that these stocks would Benefit from a situation like that They definitely are benefiting which is unfortunate because obviously a hurricane is a tragedy But Lowe's is making brand new all-time highs today 115th and its target. It's almost there about 50 cents away right now But overall these stocks have been strong One of the reasons I'm very bullish on these stocks is they are moving ahead of the market They are rallying and making new highs before the market both home depot and Lowe's have recently in the last week made brand new All-time highs and the market has it yes, and he hasn't so that's a good sign These stocks are a buy right now They look bullish and their next earnings are not for a couple of months away not until the end of November So there's a lot of room for them to move up. Well, so Melissa I want to I want to talk a little bit and hear from you about how these these companies and these these Retailers are safe from the quote-unquote retail apocalypse. That's been happening. I mean, what should they be worried about? What should investors be worried about in terms of disruption by large online players? Look, we got to talk Amazon and Denmark Right. What's interesting though is I put this in a separate category of other retailers because it's home improvement Because right now if you look at some of the home builders like KBH those stocks are in downtrends And yet you have these these retail companies these home improvement companies at brand new all-time highs So you say well, wait a minute They're obviously doing something where individuals not just the builders are going out and wanting to spend money to make home improvements Just like your previous guest said so part of that is why the tax savings people are saving more money So they have more money to spend they're also feeling confident in spending money Whereas maybe if you had something to fix in your home like your roof or even a big thing You might not have spent it but now you're feeling like wait a minute. I'm gonna save money in my taxes this year I feel like things are going to improve my job is more stable And so they're willing to go out and spend money in their home Also, you got to remember interest rates are on the rise so people might say wait a minute I have to fix up this thing in my home to sell it And so people are probably prepping to do that because they want to sell their home If they do before interest rates go up or maybe buy something else or maybe even refinance and sometimes People have to fix certain things in their home in order to get that done so they're spending the money to do it Well, and to your point Melissa, we look at a KB home chart and we see that it is up today But still over the past year down after a decent spike during that spring selling season leading into the spring selling season That is Perry. We want to bring you in as well Yes, the economy is doing well 4% growth in the latest GDP report that we saw But we also hear to that Millennials finally are starting to have household formation and what kind of momentum does that give this sector? Incredible momentum and to your point about Amazon. You can't go get a piece of plywood delivered to you. Yeah online. Yeah That's yeah, I mean I just a Lot of people have said that Amazon can't do this and then they do it. What do you think? Well, here's the thing I think there's an immediate I think when people go to a Home Depot to go to Lowe's they want something They they want it and they need it for that weekend project But how is online helping the the home these retailers is that people order and they pick up at the store? I think half of the orders are being picked up at the store then the people when they're there They go in and they buy more things So Perry I want to go back to something that you said earlier and use the word experience Which is aware that we hear so frequently right with regard to what is with not only Millennials But also with a way that that retailers can essentially be immune. Yes to online Disruption. Yeah, what is working? Experientially at Lowe's and Home Depot. What are they doing right that other brick-and-mortar retailers? Sure, and I mean I'll tell you from my personal experience and I'm not very handy like I'm good behind the desks Yeah, that's what the hammer I can't but but you know when I go to Home Depot that people there are very smart They have very good customer service. I think their training has been amazing Okay, because people know where things are they have someone right at the front of the store I need to go by I need to go get flooring. They tell you exactly what I ought to go to or I need a hinge They tell you where to go. So I think that's number one number two that the stores are very well maintained Number three they have what you're looking for and it's just easy unless they're out I gotta say it was at a Lowe's a few weekends ago and they were out of a particular stone that I was looking for But anyway, Melissa, we want to bring you in as well Look tariffs announcement of another round of tariffs late last night from the Trump administration China retaliating early This morning Home Depot says it's gonna invest a billion dollars over the next five years to transform its supply chain How do tariffs potentially affect these companies? Well, I couldn't I'll say how because Lowe's for example sells a lot of big Appliances and some of these big appliances come from outside of the US. So that would definitely affect that pricey now Will Lowe's compensate for that for our even Home Depot find other suppliers We have yet to see remember this whole thing with the tariffs The reason Trump is doing this is to fix the system that is broken and to fix it permanently or at least for a long long time Out so this is gonna take time It may not be fixed by between now and the end of 2018 But there's hopes that it will be because ultimately obviously China You know, we have we have that China has more to lose than we have to lose So I'm not sure why they're doing this except for their playing hardball here and so is Trump So as far as people going and they're going and they're trying to buy things in the store again You can't buy lumber in this on Amazon, but also if you want to go buy a washer and dryer You can go to Lowe's you can buy a washer and dry and they come install it So that's you know all of that is convenience when you have big appliances like that It makes it more convenient to shop at those places also picking your paint colors You can go and pick your yeah mix them There's a lot of benefits to going there as far as the cost that with the tariffs. Yeah It definitely could have been unfortunately running up against the clock So we're gonna have to leave it there But thank you so much for joining us and Perry Mandarino senior managing director and head of restructuring at B Riley FDR is also co-head of investment banking there and Melissa Armo always great to see if she's the owner of the stock swoosh guys Thanks so much for joining us