XRT - COVID curveballs could give investors opportunities with discretionary retail stocks

Oppenheimer throws some gloom on top of what has been generally positive forecasts for holiday retail sales, although investors with a longer time frame are seen having an opportunity to take advantage. Analyst Rupesh Parikh: "With growing COVID-19 infections and state-specific restrictions such as in CA, we are increasingly concerned for the potential for holiday sales to fall short of expectations. Adverse impacts on brick & mortar traffic coupled with shipping limitations as it gets closer to Christmas could lead to below expectation performance for parts of our discretionary retail coverage, especially in the context of generally positive investor sentiment."The firm lists Costco (COST), Dollar General (DG) and Walmart (WMT) as its top picks in the food retailing/discounter sector. On the reopening side, Ulta Beauty (ULTA) and Sally Beauty Holdings (SBH) rank as the firm's favorites."We would be positioned to take advantage of any potential weakness into year-end as the retail

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COVID curveballs could give investors opportunities with discretionary retail stocks