Atlanta based Home Depot Inc. (NYSE- HD) announced this week that it will be relocating it's popular "Kid's Workshop" overseas. The move comes as the home improvement chain, which has had a craptastic year financially with it's stock dropping over 50 percent in value, warns that it's fourth quarter earnings will pretty much suck.

Many are already wondering what steps Home Depot can take in the coming year to lift its sagging bottom line. CEO Bob

"At least we got to keep these gun safety vests."

Nardelli issued a statement late in the week that affirms the company itself is worried about the coming year and that it plans to take severe measures to remain profitable. "These business trends indicate the likelihood of a challenging environment well into the next fiscal year," read the statement. "We feel that by moving our Kid's Workshop classes overseas and broadening their scope, we can tap into a new revenue stream and widen our community service initiatives."

Home Depot's Kid's Workshops are free in-store classes for parent or guardian supervised children 6 to 12 years of age in which kids learn not to smack themselves in the face with a hammer while completing projects that they can take home. After class parents are allowed to purchase expensive light fixtures. Popular Kid's Workshop projects include bird houses, picture frames and step stools.

Home Depot has announced that they will open a 30,000 square foot "classroom" in rural Malaysia to run the program in the first quarter of next year. The "broadened scope" of the program will include:

• Instead of holding classes one day per month, classes will be offered 28 days per month 17 hours a day. Also, classes will be held every 4 to 6 minutes.
• Parent or Guardian not required, but if they attend they must complete a project.
• The age range will be changed to 4 through 18.
• Projects will no longer be taken home by students. In fact, students will not be permitted to go home.
• Students will actually be paid for completing projects, sometimes up to 3 cents per project. This will greatly increase the sense of accomplishment the classes instill in children not only by doing the project 170 times per day, but by allowing the child to become it's family's main breadwinner.

Some financial analysts believe this is a good step to the company's recovery. "It really is a stroke of genius to offer these classes to under privileged children around the globe at the same time they are in effect mass producing products for sale. I already have plans to upgrade Home Depot to my 'Buy or Die' stock of 2003," said one Wall Street insider.

Others are not so sure about the strategy. "It doesn't seem like a very good long term plan to me," says stock analyst, Stan Steeliabucks. "It's only a matter of time before all the birds are housed and all the pictures are framed. Then it's back over the border and into the Myanmar army for most of those kids. What good is overconfidence with a hammer going to do for a kid whose gun is as big as he is? Yes, I'd say this plan is as short sighted as an 8-year-old's rifle."