Retirement Stock Portfolio: 5 Safe Consumer Stocks to Consider

In this article, we discuss the 5 safe consumer stocks for a retirement stock portfolio. If you want to read about some more consumer stocks, go directly to Retirement Stock Portfolio: 11 Safe Consumer Stocks to Consider.

5. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 69

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) engages in the operation of membership warehouses. It is one of the best safe consumer stocks for a retirement stock portfolio. On November 2, Costco Wholesale announced the sales for the month of October 2022. The company said that its comparable sales in October grew 6 per cent, while e-commerce comparable sales were down 0.7 per cent, with net sales of $17.73 billion for the fiscal year 2022 ending in October with an increase of 7.7 per cent. Costco has consistently paid a dividend to shareholders for the past two decades. 

On September 23, Truist analyst Scot Ciccarelli maintained a Buy rating on Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) stock and lowered the price target to $559 from $571, noting that the company’s core retail operations are becoming more profitable.

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Washington-based Fisher Asset Management is a leading shareholder in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) with 2.6 million shares worth more than $1.2 billion. 

In its Q2 2022 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Portfolio gains were led by a diverse group of contributors. Also in consumer discretionary, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores, continues to impress as it takes to share and becomes more relevant for the consumer even as the world opens up.”