Richard Croft
SPDR Cons Discretionary ETF
XLY-N
COMMENT
May 04, 2017
One of the issues with the Consumer Discretionary space is what is called the “Amazon affect”, which has had such a major impact on so many retailers. He thinks you are almost better off picking a retailer that has been able to restructure itself and immunize itself as best as possible against Amazon. Coach (COH-N) would be an example. If you can afford it, he would buy Amazon as your starting point and look for a couple of retail companies that you think have an opportunity to continue.
Consumer Discretionary has been a pretty hot sector already. Price to Book is very high at around 5. If you’ve got a growing US economy and people are now getting the benefits, that means more discretionary money will be spent on big screen TVs, etc.
XLY-US or XLF-US? January saw massive gains in the U.S., which was too much, too soon. So, he pulled back and held a lot of cash. Then, in early-Feb he bought both ETFs. He recommends buying both right now.
This is a new sector for them. It holds everything from Home Depot to Netflix and is well diversified. The recent pull back offers good value, especially if you are looking to add beta to your portfolio. He likes it as a group.
Consumers are still spending money. The unemployment rate is really low. The consumer discretionary sector has been responding positively. There is an ascending triangle from the beginning of 2019 to the end and then it ticked up further. The seasonality is not until April. You don’t want to see the jobless rate tick higher.
(A Top Pick Feb 07/20, Down 9%) This was the peak of the market. AMZN-Q is about a quarter of this ETF. It is important to know what is in an ETF before buying it. He exited this sector.
Allan Tong’s Discover Picks Other major retail stock holdings in XLY are the Home Depot and Lowe‘s (home improvement has soared during Covid), McDonald‘s, Starbucks and Nike (strong global brands) and TJX. XLY’s MER is only 0.12%, though it pays a modest 0.67% dividend yield. Currently trading around $173, XLY is $7 off its recent highs. With summer spending expected to remain robust, XLY will likely return to those highs, but it’s probably worth waiting for at least a 5% pullback before entering, as market volatility driven by uncertain interest rates will likely endure in coming weeks. Read 3 Retail Stocks to Buy Now: Ready, Set, Shop for our full analysis.
One of the issues with the Consumer Discretionary space is what is called the “Amazon affect”, which has had such a major impact on so many retailers. He thinks you are almost better off picking a retailer that has been able to restructure itself and immunize itself as best as possible against Amazon. Coach (COH-N) would be an example. If you can afford it, he would buy Amazon as your starting point and look for a couple of retail companies that you think have an opportunity to continue.