5 Top Consumer Discretionary Stocks To Check Out This Week
Even with talks of the Omicron coronavirus variant filling headlines, consumer discretionary stocks remain viable in the stock market now. After all, consumer markets appear to be stronger than ever. This is evident in the overall rise in spending this holiday season. Take e-commerce goliath Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) for example. Throughout Black Friday, Shopify raked in total sales worth $2.9 billion, a record high for its annual sales event. At the same time, other stay-at-home stocks from across the digital entertainment industry are also seeing a resurgence in popularity among investors now.
All of this could be worth considering as the coronavirus situation seems to be causing concerns. Namely, with the World Health Organization raising the red flag on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, consumer discretionaries could still be attractive to some. On the flip side, there are also more adventurous investors looking to bank on the current weakness. This could be the case with Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) already working on developing an Omicron-focused vaccine.
As such, companies like Disney (NYSE: DIS) that are banking on cinema ticket sales could continue to prosper. In fact, its upcoming movie with Sony (NYSE: SONY), Spider-Man: No Way Home is already crashing box office sites as tickets went on sale earlier today. On that note, here’s a mixed bag of consumer discretionary stocks to know in the stock market today.
Top Consumer Discretionary Stocks To Buy [Or Sell] This Week
- GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME)
- Xpeng Inc. (NYSE: XPEV)
- Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL)
- American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL)
- Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ: LI)
GameStop Corp.
First up, we have GameStop, a consumer discretionary stock that is one of the largest video game retailers in the world. The video game and consumer electronics retailer has also been building its omnichannel capabilities by expanding its e-commerce presence across the world. The stock has garnered a lot of retail trader attention, making it one of the first meme stocks to have had its valuation pushed by retail traders to new highs. With that, GME stock is currently up by over 1,000% year-to-date.
The company says that it will be announcing its third-quarter financials on December 8, 2021. Ahead of its earnings, how has the company been doing financially? In September, GameStop posted a net sales of $1.183 billion, compared to $942 million a year ago. The company also ended the quarter with $1.78 billion in cash and restricted cash. It says that it will continue to invest in long-term growth initiatives that include expanding the company’s product catalog and enhancing its fulfillment capabilities and technology. Given this piece of news, is GME stock worth investing in?
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XPeng Inc.
Following that, we have XPeng, an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer that designs and manufactures smart EVs in China. In fact, it is a proven leader in the rapidly growing smart EV market, producing many popular EVs like the G3 SUV and the four-door sports sedan, P7. This especially appeals to the growing base of tech savvy middle-class consumers in China. The company is also focusing on developing full-stack intelligent driving technology and other software.
Last week, the company reported a strong quarter as well. Diving in, quarterly vehicle deliveries reached 25,666, an almost 200% increase year-over-year. On top of that, total revenues for the quarter reached an impressive $887.7 million, increasing by 187.4% compared to a year earlier. XPeng also ended the quarter with $7.04 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
Mr. He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng, said, “In the third quarter, we continued record-setting growth with the highest vehicle deliveries among China’s startup new energy vehicle automakers. This outperformance testifies to the market’s recognition of the differentiated value our vertically integrated in-house developed software and hardware bring to our vehicles.” Given this piece of news, will you consider adding XPEV stock to your portfolio?
Carnival Corporation
Next, we have Carnival Corporation, a travel leisure company that operates one of the world’s largest portfolio of global cruise line brands that includes Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA Cruises. Its nine cruise brands include a broad range of vacation options for millions of guests with a wide variety of leisure-time activities that accommodate people from all over the globe. On the news of the Omicron variant, the stock seems to be down by over 15% in the past month. The question here is, could this be an opportunity for investors to buy the dip?
Last week, the company announced that its Princess Cruises offer a real holiday vacation for vaccinated families to the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, and California Coast. With 24 cruises onboard 8 ships, Princess Cruises offers effortless, personalized cruising, featuring world-class dining and entertainment that the brand is known for. With this piece of information, should you consider buying CCL stock right now?
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American Airlines Group Inc.
Another name to consider among consumer discretionary stocks now would be American Airlines or AAL for short. Overall, AAL is a leading name in the global air travel industry today. At max capacity, the company operates nearly 6,700 daily flights to almost 350 destinations across 50 countries. With the holiday season here, demand for its flights continues to increase as well. All this would serve to bolster the case for AAL stock now.
After last Friday’s sell-offs, investor attention appears to be turning towards AAL stock and its airline industry peers. Could investors be wise to buy into the current weakness? Well, for one thing, AAL appears to be making a notable recovery on the financial front. In its latest fiscal quarter report, the company saw green across the board.
For starters, AAL’s total revenue soared by over 180% year-over-year, totaling $8.97 billion. Furthermore, the company also more than doubled its net income and earnings per share over the same period. While AAL attempts to navigate the upcoming pandemic conditions, would you consider AAL stock a smart long-term buy?
Li Auto Inc.
Last but not least, we will be taking a look at Li Auto. Similar to one of our earlier entries, Li Auto is a major player in the booming Chinese EV market. As you can imagine, the company designs, develops, and manufactures premium smart EVs. Through its Li ONE electric SUV, Li Auto is among the earliest firms in the market to offer Chinese consumers larger EV alternatives. Today, LI stock seems to be gaining traction in the stock market thanks to the company’s latest quarterly earnings report.
Diving right in, Li Auto posted a total revenue of about $1.21 billion for the quarter. This marks a massive 209.7% year-over-year surge. Another key metric to consider is the company’s total vehicle sales for the quarter. Likewise, Li Auto posted a 199.7% year-over-year increase on this front. CEO Xiang Li notes that the company is planning to further bolster its production capacity while expanding its services to accommodate its business growth. With that in mind, will you be adding LI stock to your list of top consumer discretionary stocks to buy now?
