Ross Stores Inc. (ROST)

(A Top Pick March 2/15. Up 19.12%.) A great management team. If you own, she would consider trimming because it has done so well relative to anything else.

This and T.J. Maxx (TJX-N) would be the big retailers on the discount side in the US. This one had a little bump recently on their earnings, but you are looking at very deep discounted fashions. They still have the wherewithal to grow their business. Given that small businesses are still continuing to grow, he imagines it will continue to help the low end consumer. If this were to correct more and get into a better valuation, he would probably recommend that you dip your toes in.

US retail. This company is pretty good. Had an earnings miss recently and the stock was beaten up a little. Has moved into a negative earnings revision cycle. Feels the company is pretty well run, but the industry is running into some strong headwinds. If you own, he would recommend using a stop loss.

(A Top Pick March 2/15. Up 7.68%.) This caters to the lower income consumer. The thinking was that it was going to be the lower income consumer who will actually benefit the most from lower gasoline prices.

Good quality clothes at a good price. There is a lot of competition in this business. This had an arbitrage opportunity and took advantage of it, but he wonders how much longer that can continue. At some point in time their market share is going to get obliterated. Retail is very, very tough.

They retail clothing as well as house wares at exceptionally low prices. Lower energy prices helps the lower end consumer. Yield of 0.89%.

Was on the sidelines because of valuation. Growth is not as robust as people were thinking so the multiple compressed. They still seem to have a lot of store growth ahead of them.

They have been doing very well. A great business. Her issue is the valuation. It is not a cheap stock. Probably no issue if they keep doing what they are doing.

An off price retailer like Winners. This has been a sweet spot as the economy has been a little rough. They can go up and down depending on how their business does and it is hard to forecast. Valuations are not cheap but not horrible. She is neutral. Her exposure to retail is Taylor and Kohls.

Very good business. Penetration in the US is not that high so they have room to run as they expand their store base. Benefiting from the discount trends. Would like it 5%-10% lower.

(A Top Pick Aug 30/11. Up 84.28%.) A US off-price channel retailer. Basically buy up inventories of brand-name clothing and sell it. Have managed to grow same-store sales fairly dramatically along with their margins. Probably time to lighten up on this one if you own.