By their very nature, consumer stocks are the bane of risk-averse investors. High inflationary environments and tight budgets can heavily impact consumer discretionary companies, leading to performance slumps and higher downside risks. S&P’s Global Market Intelligence found that consumer discretionary remained the highest-risk sector at the tail end of 2023, and companies belonging to the sector were some of the most shorted stocks in the market. However, not all consumer discretionary stocks are made equal ...