Consumer stocks were hit hard on May 18 as disappointing earnings reports from Target Corp. and Walmart Inc. led to double-digit declines for many retailers.
Market Snapshot: Dow skids 1,100 points and heads for worst day since June 2020 on stagflation fears, higher costs eroding profits
Shares of Target TGT, -24.93% fell 25% after the company reported a 48% decline in earnings per share for its first fiscal quarter from the year-earlier quarter.
Read: Target stock plunges as profit drops on consumer spending shifts and jump in freight costs
Target’s disappointment came after Walmart reported a 24% decline in quarterly profit. Shares of the largest U.S. retailer fell 7% on May 18, following an 11% decline the previous day.
A contagion spread, with shares of Dollar Tree DLTR, -14.42% dropping 14% even though the discount retailer isn’t scheduled to report its quarterly results until May 26.
The worst sector of 2022 is no longer tech
The consumer discretionary sector suffered a 6.6% decline in only one day and hit the trifecta for the worst performance of the session, for the first 13 trading days of May and for 2022.
Here’s a summary of how the 11 sectors of the benchmark S&P 500 SPX, -4.04% have performed this year:
| S&P 500 sector | Price change – 2022 | Price change – May | Price change – May 18 |
| Consumer Discretionary | -30.8% | -12.4% | -6.6% |
| Communication Services | -27.0% | -1.3% | -3.4% |
| Information Technology | -24.5% | -6.9% | -4.7% |
| Real Estate | -19.3% | -10.0% | -2.9% |
| Financials | -15.2% | -4.0% | -2.8% |
| Industrials | -13.7% | -4.0% | -3.8% |
| Materials | -9.6% | -3.6% | -3.2% |
| Health Care | -9.4% | -1.9% | -2.6% |
| Consumer Staples | -7.3% | -8.0% | -6.4% |
| Utilities | -0.3% | 0.2% | -1.0% |
| Energy | 46.2% | 8.0% | -2.8% |
| Full S&P 500 | -17.7% | -5.0% | -4.0% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
Stocks that fell the most on May 18
The S&P 500 slumped 4% on May 18 for its worst performance of 2022. Here are the 11 stocks in the benchmark index that fell more than 10% for the session:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – May 18 | Price change – May | Price change – 2022 | Decline from 52-week high | Date of 52-week intraday high |
| Target Corp. | TGT, -24.93% | -24.9% | -29.3% | -30.2% | -39.9% | 11/15/2021 |
| Dollar Tree Inc. | DLTR, -14.42% | -14.4% | -17.6% | -4.8% | -24.5% | 04/21/2022 |
| Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. | ODFL, -12.97% | -13.0% | -15.6% | -34.0% | -36.7% | 12/07/2021 |
| Tractor Supply Co. | TSCO, -12.52% | -12.5% | -9.8% | -23.9% | -24.8% | 03/31/2022 |
| Costco Wholesale Corp. | COST, -12.45% | -12.5% | -19.2% | -24.4% | -29.9% | 04/07/2022 |
| Dollar General Corp. | DG, -11.11% | -11.1% | -14.8% | -14.2% | -22.9% | 04/21/2022 |
| Ulta Beauty Inc. | ULTA, -10.83% | -10.8% | -11.7% | -15.0% | -20.1% | 04/21/2022 |
| Best Buy Co. | BBY, -10.51% | -10.5% | -15.9% | -25.6% | -46.7% | 11/22/2021 |
| J.M. Smucker Co. | SJM, -10.49% | -10.5% | -6.3% | -5.5% | -12.5% | 05/09/2022 |
| Etsy Inc. | ETSY, -10.47% | -10.5% | -15.4% | -64.0% | -74.4% | 11/26/2021 |
| Newell Brands Inc. | NWL, -10.40% | -10.4% | -10.7% | -5.4% | -31.3% | 05/10/2021 |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
Click on the tickers for more about each company.
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