These Stocks Will Win the Holiday Shopping Season

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Shoppers came out in droves over the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend. Approximately 154 million consumers — 3 million more than last year — showed up to fill their carts both in stores and online, spending a total of $5.27 billion on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday combined. That’s a 17.7% increase year over year.

The figures were impressive on almost all accounts. Almost. Only 99 million made their way into the store, a decrease of 3 million over 2015 as consumer preferences shift toward digital. That, however, contributed to the more than 108 million people shopping online, an increase of 5 million from last year.

Online sales came in at $3.34 billion on Black Friday. Not only was that a record, it surpassed the $3 billion mark for the time in history and accounted for a 21.6% increase over last year’s $2.74 billion. And that doesn’t count any of the shopping that was done on Cyber Monday.

Mobile sales also saw a big increase, bringing in $1.2 billion on Black Friday. Millennials, who are the largest demographic in the country, were the most active shoppers both in store (56%) and online (62%), with eight in every 10 making purchases over the holiday weekend.

But there’s plenty of money still left on the table. The NRF survey found that only 9% of consumers are done with their holiday shopping after the Thanksgiving weekend, which was down 11% from the previous year.

I still think we’re in for a big holiday season, although we may have already seen the best for most apparel companies. I suspect people will spend more on homes, with new and existing housing numbers recently coming in at levels not seen in years. Electronics sales should also pick up, as well as experiences.

The Best-Positioned Holiday Shopping Winners

Yet, as we can see from the survey results above, there are still a lot of folks out there who will keep shopping well into December, and I expect two companies in particular to benefit.

Those companies are Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) and Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST). Nordstrom offers more high-end shopping experience than Ross Stores, but Ross is still attractive to the more value-conscious consumer. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Nordstrom is a leading fashion specialty retailer that offers clothing, footwear and accessories for all ages and genders. The company started out as a small shoe shop in Seattle and has since grown to include 347 stores across 40 states and Canada. It also services its customers online in 96 countries.

JWN stock has pulled back since hitting a 52-week high of $62.82 on Nov. 14, and I think the current trading represents a solid opportunity. The chart is open back toward those levels, and JWN has plenty of support underneath it with the 50-day moving average around $54 and the 200-day moving just below $50.

Ross Stores, on the other hand, is the nation’s largest off-price apparel and home fashion chain. It offers 20% to 60% discounts off department and specialty store prices, passing on the maximum amount of savings to its customers by working directly with manufacturers and boasting a “no frills” shopping experience. At the end of fiscal 2015 the company operated 1,274 stores in 34 states, the District of Columbia and Guam.

ROST stock has had a fantastic run in 2016 so far, climbing 25% to current prices right around $67. ROST shares are down about 3.5% from the Nov. 22 all-time high at $69.82, and while there is a chance we see some more profit-taking after the recent run to the upside, I believe ROST will benefit nicely as consumers shop for more bargains this holiday season. Plus,the 50-day moving average about 4% below current prices provides added near-term support.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/12/holiday-shopping-season-black-friday-cyber-monday-thanksgiving-day-spending/.

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