5 Stocks To Love On Valentine's Day

 | Feb 14, 2019 06:25AM ET

The day to celebrate love is here. In honor of the global love day, people splurge on gifts like candies, chocolates, cologne, greeting cards, flowers and other such gifts pick up. Restaurants also see high footfall.

This year, the demand for such discretionary items is likely to shoot up on economic strength, with employment and income growing at a steady clip. Given the encouraging trends, it will be prudent to invest in fundamentally-sound companies that could make the most of Valentine’s Day.

Americans to Spend Billions

Per the recent annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics (NRF), U.S. consumers are expected to spend a total of $20.7 billion on discretionary items, up from $19.6 billion last year and the record of $19.7 billion in 2016.

On average, consumers will spend $161.96, up from last year’s $143.56 and $146.84 spent in 2016. Survey shows consumers will spend an average $4.26 on spouses, $29.87 on children or parents, $8.63 on children’s classmates or teachers, $9.78 on friends, $7.78 on co-workers and $6.94 on pets on average. Largely, consumers aged 35 to 44 will spend the maximum, averaging $279.14, followed by the 25-34 age bracket at $239.07. Notably, men are expected to shell out the highest, at $229.54 — more than double of what women said they would spend.

Nearly $3.9 billion will be spent on jewelry (18%), $2.1 billion on clothing (18%), $1.3 billion on gift cards/gift certificates (15%) and $1.9 billion on flowers (35%). Spending on eating out is likely to total $3.5 billion (34%), while candy purchases will be up 52% from last year to a total of $1.8 billion. Meanwhile, 40% want tickets to concerts or sporting events, better known as ‘gifts of experience’, while only 25% plan on giving it.

And when it comes to shopping venues, much of it remains the same as last year. Consumers planning to shop at department stores, discount stores, online, specialty stores, florists, local small business, and jewelry stores and specialty clothing stores will be around 35%, 32%, 27%, 18%, 16%, 14% and 9%, respectively.

Catalysts Behind the Rise in Spending

Americans are set to splurge on discretionary items this Valentine’s Day, courtesy of a strong economy, solid job additions and fatter paychecks. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently stated that his country is continuing to see solid economic growth and that he does not feel the probability of a recession “is at all elevated.”

Jobs growth in January, by the way, smashed estimates, with nonfarm payrolls increasing for the 100th straight month. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added 304,000 new jobs in January, exceeding analysts’ estimates of around 172,000.

December’s job additions, in the meanwhile, were revised down from 312,000 jobs to 222,000, while November’s count rose from 176,000 to 196,000. Nonetheless, the average for the last three months is now 241,000 jobs, marking one of the best stretches during an economic expansion dating back nine-and-a-half years. By the way, employment gains in 2018 turned out to be the strongest in the last three years.