Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO)

When times are tough, consumers gravitate to Walmart, Costco and Dollarama. DOL does a great job providing value to customers. He wishes he owned it. Problem is the high valuation, from high-30s to mid-30s, which remains too high.

Consumer’s hurting a bit at the lower end. Huge fan of this company. Classified as Consumer Discretionary, but it’s more a Consumer Staple. Performs well in both up and down business cycles. Choppy recently. Premium valuation, warranted. Core holding that helps stabilize your portfolio.

Whole witches' brew of things in the global economy that are impacting consumer spending. Higher interest rates, lack of rate cuts. Stock's still 33x PE. Higher valuation stocks tend to get hurt the most with interest rates rising.

On the other side of a phenomenal growth runway. Not opening as many stores, and those returns aren't as good. Mature company, growth hard to come by, so it's going international (less profitable). Don't buy the dip at this point.

It recently touched 40x PE, but has fallen to the mid-30s. Is a great business and likes it long term. He has scaled back his weighting over time because of valuation. Also, it is priced for perfection, so even good, but imperfect earnings impact the stock. He may add to it when its PE returns to the mid-20s.

Doing well, looking to build another 70-80 stores this year. Be cautious. Though defensive stocks tend to trade higher, PE ratio of 40x is double that of the TSX at 20x. In growth mode. Recessionary pressures in Canada would be a tailwind.

Great company, well run. Likes the business model -- hard to raise price by 10% on a $100 product, but much easier to do on a $1 product. Valuation is the concern; be aware that market sentiment could decide one day that it's not willing to pay 25x PE.

Pricey. Moving more up-market. How many more stores can they build? History of Canadian companies expanding in the US is not riddled with success. Be cautious.

In the retail space, likes the more defensive profile of this name.

Wonderful business, adds a lot of value for customers. He struggles with the valuation, given its growth profile. To get a good longer-term return, you need earnings growth and multiple expansion.

WMT, as well as COST and DOL, are very defensive havens for investors. That's bid up the shares. PE ratios for the three are all north of 40x. With just a slight moderation in the PE, the overall return will still be flat. He'd be interested on a significant pullback. Be patient.

He loves shopping there and has owned shares a long time. The PE is full now. Likes it for the long term, but hasn't been adding to his position.

The first stock she ever bought, but doesn't own it for clients. Valuation has been so high there's risk of multiple compression if growth comes down. Didn't think it could continue growth trajectory as strongly as it has. Dividend yield not high, which makes sense when the company is redeploying $$ back into growing its business.

Expanding internationally. Trade-down economics at work in this weakening economy.

If it's 10% of your portfolio, trim. Don't add more at these valuations.

The high end is still spending on luxury goods, while the lower-middle consumer is starting to reduce spending. This name gives her exposure to more defensive consumer staples for her main portfolio positioning.

Owned for years, but exited his position. Doing better than he would have expected.

Look at the sector. He has virtually 0% weighting in the consumer. From homebuilders to retailers to restaurants to leisure travel to airlines, all are performing poorly. WMT has been the standout in the group.

Lends itself to both consumer staples and consumer discretionary. Growth has been fantastic. Same-store sales growth has been good. Strategy has worked, and now expanding internationally. High valuation; he's not one to buy these stocks where growth doesn't justify valuation (yet COST is north of 50x PE).

Should continue to grow, but you may not see the same performance of past years. Worries about impact of tariffs on goods; hasn't seen it yet in the numbers, but pay attention. It's a risk with this lower-margin business.