Who Were the Outliers in the Consumer Space?

At the end of the second week of March 2016, the S&P 500 slightly outperformed the S&P Consumer Staples and the S&P Consumer Discretionary as a whole. The indexes had respective returns of 1.1%, 0.63%, and 0.57%.

On the other hand, the S&P Consumer Discretionary stocks have a monthly return of 0.24%. This is much higher than the -0.41% and 0.06% from the S&P 500 and the S&P Consumer Staples, respectively.

Key consumer sector updates for the first week of March 2016 are as follows:

• Greif (GEF) reported its fiscal 1Q16 earnings results.
• Thor Industries (THOR) reported a rise in revenue and income in fiscal 2Q16.
• Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) reported mixed quarterly results in fiscal 4Q15.
• Amplify Snack Brands’ (BETR) net sales rose in fiscal 4Q15. Goldman Sachs rated it a “buy.”
• Blue Buffalo Pet Products (BUFF) reported a rise in revenue and fall in net income in fiscal 4Q15.
• Dollar General’s (DG) performance rose in fiscal 4Q15 and its quarterly dividend rose by 14%.
• Express (EXPR) saw a rise in its net sales and income in fiscal 4Q15 and fiscal 2015.

In this series, we’ll take a look at the above stocks’ performances, price movements, and latest quarterly results.

The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) tracks a market-cap-weighted index of consumer staples stocks drawn from the S&P 500. XLP is the ETF of consumer goods.