The Action Alerts Plus team offered commentary Thursday concerning several of the stocks it follows.
Retail titan Costco Wholesale (COST) reported that comparable sales surged 12% in March from a year earlier, excluding the impact of gasoline prices and foreign exchange. Costco’s net sales rose 17% to $130 billion in the first 31 weeks of the company's current fiscal year compared with a year ago.
“Those figures confirm our thesis on COST shares, that staring down inflation, consumers will increasingly pivot their shopping to retailers that allow them to stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have,” the AAP team wrote in a commentary.
As of March 31, Costco had 829 warehouse locations, up 2.7% from 807 a year earlier. That points to a continued increase in membership fees, the team said.
Ford Downgrade
Meanwhile, Barclays downgraded automaker Ford Motor (F) to equal weight from overweight, thanks to supply-chain disruption. “Arguably, that's a late response to what is poised to be a short-to-medium-term issue,” the AAP team said. “Moreover, it's an issue that continues to plague most of the larger auto companies.”
With the electric vehicle market growing, “Ford is on the right track as it looks to transform its business,” the AAP team said. “Similar to other companies’ transformations, as progress is made, the value will be unlocked.”
ChargePoint: Good News, Bad News
ChargePoint (CHPT), the electric-vehicle charging-station network, on April 7 received good news and bad news. The bad news: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) said he "will not sign up" for a strong push from the Biden administration for electric cars.
The good news: The White House held a meeting with major automotive leaders to discuss creating a national network of 500,000 electric-vehicle chargers.
“We see the outcome of that meeting neutralizing the Manchin comment and recognizing the looming pain point should EV charging stations fail to keep up with EV sales,” the AAP team said.
