Kroger Co. (KR)

Many wrote off this major grocer a few quarters ago, citing that the reopening will end pantry stocking, but this name is up over 22% YTD. He expects good numbers when they report Thursday, but that said he prefers the biggest grocer, Walmart.

Many wrote off this supermarket chain a few quarters ago given the end of pantry stocking with the end of Covid. Since then, shares have risen 22% as this has benefitted a lot from inflation. It's also well-run. They report Thursday and he expects great numbers. That said, he prefers America's largest grocer, Walmart.

Lots of grocery stores have done well. Prefers Costco. If you hold KR, it will continue to benefit, but Costco is a one-stop-shop. Consumers don't want to traipse around to different stores.

Grocers are tough, operating on skinny margins. You have big competition. WMT-N and AMZN-Q are big into grocery. He owns WMT-N.

A serial dividend grower? Traditional grocery stores are threatened by Amazon and hard discounters (in the U.S.). The latter dominate Europe and are a rising threat in North America. He prefers Costco who have the lowest prices anywhere; they also have the best demographics of anyone selling groceries, the wealthy, which makes Costco very defensive/safe.