Back in August of last year, we identified some growth-oriented restaurants with terrific stories that—largely thanks to their cookie-cutter business model, where they’re likely to hugely expand the store count over many years—were set up in one form or another. But, instead, all did poorly, one of many growth areas that have refused to get moving despite solid numbers and lots of analyst love.
Really, that was a consumer-stock phenomenon: Despite many stocks that held up well last spring and popped to new highs a few weeks after the market bottom, most consumer-related issues went dead for one reason or another despite excellent growth. However, some are now perking up, and if growth stock buying can pick up (and spread out), we think some growth-oriented retail stocks could be near the start of fresh runs that could take them far.
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The Growth-Oriented Retail Stocks We’re Watching Now
In recent issues of Cabot Growth Investor, we’ve written about both Dutch Bros. (BROS) and Boot Barn (BOOT). BROS is probably our favorite fundamental growth story in the consumer theme, with a cookie-cutter story (and other factors, like more food offerings and mobile orders) that will drive growth for many years ... but the stock is still stuck in the lower half of an 11-month range, as it was in late December. BOOT’s projected growth isn’t as vibrant, but the stock has been in a three-steps-forward, two-steps-back advance for a while and is again approaching its highs.
Then there’s Amer Sports (AS), which owns many well-known sports and outdoor brands (including Wilson and Louisville Slugger), but the big growth is from Arc’teryx (outdoor performance wear) and Solomon (premium footwear, apparel and winter sports equipment), which are selling well all over the world (led by China). Of course, the China angle led to tariff fears affecting perception, but results have been great (sales in Q3 were up 30% and actually accelerated, with margins expanding too), and the stock has etched a nice launching pad. Analysts see 27% earnings growth in 2026.
SharkNinja (SN) is another one, with its various lines of household and kitchen appliances loved by consumers, and with an R&D engine that’s been powerful, resulting in a couple dozen new releases each year (25 new items expected in 2026). Once again, tariff fears were likely a reason shares stalled out, with a big dip with the market last March/April and another tedious decline in the fall. But business has remained stable (mid-teens sales growth, with faster earnings growth), and SN is again back into resistance in the 125 area.
There are others, too, including On Holding (ONON), which has continued to grow revenue at a 30% clip with expanding margins as its footwear and newer businesses (apparel and accessories) are super popular (shares have taken on a bit of water of late, but the volume clue after Q3 earnings was notable), and Urban Outfitters (URBN), which is seeing growth slowly accelerate as its major brands do well and its Nuuly subscription service (users can rent clothes each month with free shipping and cleaning; it’s still just 10% of the business but growing rapidly) continually tops expectations. (Shares sold off this week, though they’re still holding their longer-term moving average.)
Of course, setups like we see in these names are just that—setups for a potential advance; we still need to see the institutional investors do more than buy the dip and instead decide to jump in and buy on a consistent basis. Plus, it’s possible the Supreme Court could hand down a ruling on the legality of the tariffs any day now, which will obviously affect things. But the bottom line is that, after months of worries that held back the stocks despite excellent results and outlooks, we think some growth-oriented retail stocks could be ready to take flight in 2026.
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