Fund Managers’ Love of Consumer Stocks Is Paying Off
Starbucks is a very popular hedge fund holding.
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Hedge funds have long had a fancy for shares of consumer-discretionary companies, even though the love went unrequited in 2014 as the group trailed the return of the broader market for the first time in seven years.
This year, however, the tide has shifted back in their favor. The group of retailers, restaurant chains and other companies that want a piece of your spare cash is up about 6 percent for the year, more than double the gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. You can probably thank cheap gasoline, a strong dollar and, at least in the case of the high-flying Netflix Inc., Kevin Spacey.