Investors are watching the broad-based sector for a take on consumer strength and to seek out the group's individual winners. But traditional retailers may not have the run of things this earnings season.
"Retail is extremely broad," so buyers may want to think twice before investing in catch-all funds like the as the wave of reports rolls on, said Jay Jacobs, senior vice president and head of research and strategy at Global X ETFs. "You're including some very slow-growth areas like automobiles and gasoline and food compared to some very high-growth areas like e-commerce and video games," Jacobs said Monday on CNBC's"So, our preference is this is a cyclical space, but you want exposure to the higher-growth areas that are going to have similar cyclicality."
With that in mind, Jacobs liked the e-commerce and video gaming subsectors for their rapid growth, and gaming in particular for its shift to recurring revenue streams.