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Most consumer discretionary businesses succeed or fail based on the broader economy. Lately, it seems like demand trends have worked in their favor as the industry has returned 8.1% over the past six months, similar to the S&P 500.

Consumer discretionary businesses are levered to the highs and lows of economic cycles. This sensitive demand profile can lead to some stock price volatility, but over the past six months, the industry has stayed on track as its 8.1% return was close to the S&P 500’s.

Value investing has created more billionaires than any other strategy, like Warren Buffett, who built his fortune by purchasing wonderful businesses at reasonable prices. But these hidden gems are few and far between - many stocks that appear cheap often stay that way because they face structural issues.

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Elon Musk's car company is required each year to report to investors all the bad things that could happen to it, and the latest version lists every imaginable threat from costly lawsuits to out-of-control battery fires to war and another epidemic. Tesla sales plunged 45% in Europe in January, according to research firm Jato Dynamics, even as overall electric vehicle sales rose. Car industry analysts say it's too early to say for sure how much damage Musk is causing to Tesla because so many other factors could explain its current troubles.

Healthcare company Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2024, with sales up 17.5% year on year to $864.4 million. The company expects the full year’s revenue to be around $3.38 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.44 per share was 16.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Gen Z and millennial shoppers are particularly interested in store brands as they seek out both value and quality, per a Circana study.