5 Under-The-Radar Retail Stocks To Watch

Of the five speciality retail stocks investors search for most in Trackstar, our proprietary sentiment indicator, three are meme stocks. While we’re all for a little speculative trading and investing, today The Juice goes beyond Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), GameStop (GME) and Carvana (CVNA) to consider under-the-radar retail stocks with investment potential. 

Placer.ai uses geospatial analysis and foot traffic data to identify healthy as well as emerging retail brands. The company recently released its list of the top 10 retail brands to watch in 2023. 

Five are publicly-traded companies. Before we reveal these relatively under-the-radar stocks, a quick note on the most interesting private brand on the list. 

If you’ve ever been to Texas, you likely know fast food chain Whataburger. 

It takes the top stop on Placer.ai’s list because of its “cult following” and late night hours. While restaurants across the board tend to be closing early, Whataburger stands out as an exception. Going against the grain appears to be paying off. 

According to Placer.ai:

• The share of Whataburger visits from 9pm to midnight increased from 18.1% to 21.3% between 2019 and 2022. 
• The share of visits between midnight and 3am increased from 8.0% to 10.9% over the same period. 

Chalk this up to the oddity of Whatburger keeping its doors open 24 hours a day. The Juice thinks Whataburger could be an attractive takeover target for a larger, publicly-traded fast food chain. We’ll keep an eye on the situation for you. 

As far as the five publicly-traded retail brands Placer.ai thinks will continue crushing it in 2023, here they are alongside a tidbit or two for each name: 

• Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (PLAY): Stock is down 2.6% YTD. Placer.ai says Dave & Buster’s decision to focus on events for singles via its Dave & Buster’s brand and families through its recently-acquired Main Events Entertainment brand is paying off. PLAY’s play with both brands is “eatertainment” – a combination of dining and fun activities – which plays off of McDonald’s (MCD) successful Happy Meals for adults strategy.  
• Hibbett (HIBB): Stock is down 22.3% YTD. Hibbett Sports is an Alabama-based sporting goods chain. Despite reduced foot traffic in the space, Placer.ai reports that monthly visits to Hibbett Sports increased on a year-over-year basis throughout most of 2022. 
• Five Below (FIVE): Stock is up 15.8% YTD. Five Below is another thriving discount retailer. Compared to 2019, traffic to Five Below stores experienced double-digit growth in most months during 2022. The chain is expanding rapidly. It took Five Below 16 years to open its first 1,000 stores. Now it’s shooting for another 1,000 by 2025. 
• Boot Barn (BOOT): Stock is up 15.7% YTD. As Placer.ai puts it, Boot Barn sells to “farm workers and fashionistas alike.” Monthly visits exploded in 2022 for the Huntington Beach, CA chain, which has focused on opening new locations in what much of retail brands “the flyover states.” 
• Grocery Outlet (GO): Stock is up 5.9% YTD. Another success story in discount retail, Grocery Outlet increased visits by 10.1% in Q3/2022 compared to Q3/2021. The raw number of visitors popped 11.8% over the same period, thanks largely to bargain prices amid high inflation.   

The Bottom Line: We report. You decide. Is that still a thing!?

Either way, The Juice uses our love for data – via Trackstar and great sources such as Placer.to help uncover under-the-radar names you might want to consider for your long-term stock portfolio.

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