1302 ET - Home Depot and Lowe's should see more positives than negatives from the rise of artificial intelligence, in part because home improvement retailers are less dependent on drivers like retail media to support their overall profitability, UBS analysts say in a note. As a result, they won't face a big drag if traffic is diverted away from their websites by agentic AI, they say. Additionally, home improvement tends to be a considered and complicated purchase, meaning the adoption of agentic commerce will likely lag behind in this sector, they say. AI technology should also be deflationary, which should support hard asset prices, like home values, in the long run, benefiting home improvement retail, they say.(kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2026 13:02 ET (18:02 GMT)

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