CHICAGO — Home Depot Inc., in a move that could undo the strategy its former chief executive had insisted on, said Monday that it's looking at options — including a sale or initial public offering — for the $12 billion HD Supply business.

Atlanta-based Home Depot, the nation's largest home-improvement retailer, said Lehman Brothers has been hired to help determine which route to take. The retailer said it also would mull spinning off the wholesale distribution business but noted that it could choose to do nothing at all.

Analysts estimated the division could fetch $8 billion to $13 billion.

The move also builds on new Chief Executive Frank Blake's quick decision-making in responding to employee and shareholder concerns and bringing back what he called an "entrepreneurial spirit" to the company, part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Home Depot shares have, until recently, been a laggard within the blue-chip barometer.

One of Blake's most notable decisions in the five weeks since he got the top job was to bow to an activist shareholder group that has urged the Home Depot board to rethink strategies by bringing one of their founders to the table.

In addition, at least two lightning-rod executives linked closely to former CEO Bob Nardelli have been ousted since Blake took the reins.

At the same time, however, a sale or complete spinoff of the division could hurt Home Depot's growth opportunities, analysts said.

Shareholders liked the idea anyway, boosting the retailer's shares higher 1.1 percent to close at $41.44. The stock hit a 52-week high in intraday trading at $43. 95, but the stock is still well below where it stood six years ago.

It was barely a year ago that Home Depot doled out a hefty $3.51 billion, plus took on $325 million in debt, to purchase Hughes Supply Inc., its largest-ever acquisition that more than doubled the size of its business-to-business sales.

At the time, Nardelli, the CEO who left after a pay-package tiff on Jan. 3, called Home Depot and Hughes Supply an "ideal strategic and operational fit."

The acquisition, Nardelli maintained then, would help Home Depot "execute our growth strategy to enhance our core retail business, extend our business into adjacent areas and expand into new markets."