The Best Way to Play the Bipolar Retail Sector

The following video is part of our "Motley Fool Conversations" series, in which Motley Fool technology editor Andrew Tonner and consumer goods editor Austin Smith discuss their favorite stocks.

In today's edition, Andrew and Austin talk about a seemingly backwards trend of punishing winners and rewarding losers. Granted, stock performance is all about expected results, so if a company does better or worse than those expectations, we can expect the market to move accordingly. But taking a step back: Even if a company lost less than expected and is up 10%, while another grew less than expected, but still grew, make the right choice. Play the long game and invest in the company that actually knows how to make money.

What about a 2012 pick?
So you can see that it's a bit ridiculous to wildly reward companies who still underperform their peers, just because they may done a less bad job, while crushing the high-fliers. Instead, if investors are looking for a company to outperform in the broad-line retail space, there is no better pick than The Motley Fool's own "Top Stock for 2012." It's being discussed around the office as "The Costco of Latin America." As consumer consumption skyrockets in this region going forward, investors should be clawing to get in on the action early. We've compiled a special, 100% FREE report you can check out to uncover this company today. Just click here to access it.

At the time thisarticle was published Neither Austin Smith nor Andrew Tonner own shares of the companies listed above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Under Armour, lululemon athletica, and Aeropostale.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Under Armour and lululemon athletica. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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