When the avalanche is roaring down the hill, it really doesn’t matter if you’re wearing the best-rated snow boots.
With fears of an economic slowdown punishing the market today, I think it’s more than time to sell my Jubak Picks positions in Walmart (WMT) and Costco Wholesale (COST) even though they are the two best companies in the retail sector. As of noon New York time today Walmart is down another 3.57% and Costco has dropped 2.64%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 is lower by 2.21% and the NASDAQ Composite is off 3.55%.
Retailers gave warning last week that they saw a slowdown in 2025. Macy’s projected that comparable store sales will fall slightly this year. Best Buy predicted comparable sales growth of 2% or less. Macy’s shares fell 2.02% for the week and were down 16% for 2025 as of the close on March 7. Best Buy shares were down 11.7% last week.
Target forecast flat comparable sales growth for 2025 and said it will no longer provide quarterly profit predictions because of expected economic volatility this year. Shares of Target were down 7.4% for the week.
Ross Stores said it expects 2025 same-store sales to range from a 1 percent decline to a 2 percent increase.
I added Walmart to my Jubak Picks Portfolio onApril 5, 2022. The position was up 80% as of 2 p.m. Monday, March 10. I added Costco to that portfolio on March 29, 2022. The position was up 64% since then.
