Years ago, when I started writing about investing, I developed a concept called “Everyday Investing,” an idea borrowed from Peter Lynch’s belief that investors should buy what they know. In April 2019, I selected eight stocks whose products America loves. Except for Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), these high-potential consumer stocks have advanced in the four-plus years since.
As I wrote back in 2019, there’s an old saying in the financial services business that it’s better to buy a company’s stock than a company’s products if you genuinely want to become wealthy. That’s because the products are designed to make the company money, not you.
Financial education site Simple.Thrifty.Living produced a study taking 35 companies and examining what you would have made by buying the stocks of these businesses instead of spending the money on their products. It found that you would have made money investing in 31 of the 35 companies.
Furthermore, despite concerns about a recession and inflation causing consumers to tighten their belts, consumer discretionary has been the third-best performing S&P 500 sector so far this year, after technology and communication services.
Below are three must-buy consumer stocks to profit from product obsessions.
Lululemon (LULU)
The only serious mistake Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) has made since becoming a public company in July 2007 was its $500 million purchase of Mirror in 2020. At the time, I thought it had a real shot of integrating the at-home fitness product into the Lululemon ecosystem.
As a result, I picked LULU over Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ:PTON) as a better bet for the long haul. PTON stock is down 92% in the nearly three years since. LULU is up 15% in the same period, but the S&P 500 is up 29%, so LULU’s got some work to do.
However, there’s no question that Americans love its products. In Q1, the athletic apparel maker reported revenue of $2 billion, 24% higher than a year earlier. While the U.S. accounts for the majority of revenue, sales in China and other parts of the world are increasing rapidly, with international sales up 60% year over year in Q1.
Thanks to the company’s Power of Three x2 plan, investors can expect healthy growth for years to come. For all of 2023, management forecasts sales of $9.48 billion at the midpoint of guidance, up 17%, and earnings per share of around $11.84.
While shares trade at nearly 32x forward earnings, you must pay for quality. In five to 10 years, buying LULU at $375 likely won’t seem like a bad idea.
Deckers Outdoor (DECK)
Deckers Outdoor (NYSE:DECK) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dave Powers might not be the one who pulled the trigger on what is arguably the most successful acquisition in the history of footwear — the company acquired Hoka in 2013 when it had just $3 million in sales — but he has certainly done everything possible to make the sneaker brand an unbelievable success.
Powers was appointed CEO in 2016 and immediately went to work helping the brand grow. At the time, the Ugg brand was doing about $1.5 billion in sales. He used their popularity to get running shoe brand Hoka more shelf space at footwear retailers nationwide. Fast forward to today and Hoka is generating $1.41 billion in annual sales, not far off from Ugg with its $1.93 billion in net sales.
Deckers now has two billion-dollar brands driving its revenue and earnings growth. While it continues to push those two brands, I’m sure Powers is looking for a third billion-dollar brand.
Deckers is a no-brainer among must-buy consumer stocks with almost no debt, nearly $1 billion in cash and plenty of future growth potential.
BRP (BRP)
Is it a coincidence that I’m Canadian, and two of my three picks are Canadian companies? Maybe. Maybe not. The one thing I do know is that BRP (NASDAQ:DOOO) and Lululemon have managed to gain American consumers’ support, which has been vital to their success.
In BRP’s situation, the sale of side-by-side vehicles (SSVs) and three-wheel vehicles (3WV) has really lit a fire under its business in recent years.
The Quebec-based company reported fiscal Q1 results on June 1. They included a 34% year-over-year increase in revenue to 2.43 billion Canadian dollars ($1.85 billion) and normalized net income of 192 million Canadian Dollars ($146 million).
In the first quarter, sales of year-round products, which include its SSVs and 3WVs, increased by 42.7% to 1.33 billion Canadian dollars ($101.1 million), accounting for 55% of its overall sales.
For all of fiscal 2024, BRP expects sales to rise 10.5% at the midpoint of guidance, with year-round products accounting for 48%, seasonal products (such as Ski-Doo snowmobiles and Sea-Doo personal watercraft) accounting for 34%, and its marine and powersports accessories business accounting for the rest.
The SSVs and 3WVs have changed the company’s business trajectory, especially in the U.S. I don’t see growth slowing in the next few years.
On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
