CEO and chief research officer Dana Telsey pointed out that retail stocks on average beat the S & P 500 in the nine months after the U.S. central bank begins to ease monetary policy. Specifically, she said the S & P 500 consumer discretionary sector has beaten the broader market in seven of the past nine easing cycles during that first-nine-month window.
The firm named discounters Dollar General and Walmart among the beneficiaries, assigning the stocks price targets that imply 19.8% and 3.7% upside, respectively. Dollar General shares have plummeted more than 36% this year as the lower-end consumer faces inflation and the company deals with inventory problems . Walmart , meanwhile, is up roughly 52.2%.