Seeking Alpha’s Election 2024 Virtual Event: The future of Retail

Malls are going through a huge dynamic shift, and for commercial real estate and retail properties to be successful, they have to offer products that consumers could not buy off of Amazon (AMZN) or other retailer websites.

This is what three experts at Seeking Alpha’s Election 2024 Virtual Event said during a discussion about Dividends, REITs, and Income.

Retailers need to draw customers in, said David Auerbach, chief investment officer of HOYA Capital.

CBL & Associates (CBL), said in a press release today that they are opening a fitness center, Auerbach pointed out.

“You can’t replicate Crunch Fitness online,” he said. “That’s the draw that is bringing in unique [experiences.]”

He said that the mall as we know it will not exist going forward.

Brad Thomas, investing group leader of iREIT®+HOYA Capital, argued that the key to real estate investing continues to be “location, location, location.”

He pointed out that there were 1,400 malls opening across the U.S. in 2019, “and we knew that was grossly inflated.” He said that back in the 80s, and 90s, a lot of private equity was fueling retail growth.

“What we saw was that we didn’t need all these department stores,” he said.

He added that during that time, he saw the upcoming downward spiral in demand, where in a “survival of the fittest” style, only the strongest companies survived, Simon Property (SPG), among those, has “some of the best real estate markets, in densely populated locations.”

Auerbach added the key to success in retail real estate is to adapt to changes.

Scott Kaufman, managing partner at High Dividend Opportunities, said that if investors buy any of these companies’ shares for income – (SPG), (TGT), (WMT) – “they are definitely worth considering in the long run,” but they will see price moves depending on the state of the consumer, the economy, and other macro factors.

“A lot of times that frontline exposure means that you’re exposed to more volatility down the road,” he said.

Top U.S. retail stocks: Costco (COST), Home Depot (HD), Target (TGT), Walmart (WMT), TJX Co. (TJX), Lowe’s (LOW), Dollar General (DG).

Retail and REITs ETFs: (XTR), (IBUY), (RTH), (SCHH), (RWR), (RWO).

For investors looking to track the elections through market instruments, here are some politically driven Republican and Democratic exchange-traded funds:

• God Bless America ETF (YALL)
• American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF)
• Point Bridge America First ETF (MAGA)
• Democratic Large Cap Core ETF (DEMZ)
• Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic ETF (NANC)
• Unusual Whales Subversive Republican ETF (KRUZ)

Readers interested in investing topics tied to the upcoming election can find more information at the ongoing Seeking Alpha Investing Forum: Election 2024; please visit the event website.

Dear readers: We recognize that politics often intersects with the financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to join the separate political discussion.

More on the U.S. elections:

• Robinhood to let customers trade based on U.S. presidential election predictions
• SA Asks: Which tech stocks could rise or fall on a Harris win?
• Trump says he would replace income tax with tariffs on Joe Rogan podcast
• Bill Ackman says Pershing not placing bets on U.S. presidential race outcome
• Election scenarios by UBS: Blue Sweep, Red Sweep, split Congress for Harris or Trump