Consumer Discretionary: It’s not the consumer actually

Citi analysts Tobias M Levkovich, Lorraine M Schmitt and Christina Wood see few prospects for investments in the Consumer Discretionary sector in their recent research note ‘No Humor in Consumer.’ “Investors have been hit hard in the Consumer Discretionary sector, despite signs of greater household wealth, employment growth (albeit recently disrupted seemingly by weather) and respectable consumer spending trends,” points out the note. “However, given valuation issues and lead indicators, plus earnings estimate revision momentum, the underperformance is not surprising and is expected to continue.” In fact, year to date, the Consumer Discretionary sector is down 2.73% and the Consumer…