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A Stock to Own for the Rest of This Year, and Beyond

I went looking for a stock that's technically strong, and a business that stands to benefit from consumers' desire to spend less on essential items. I've found just the name.
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2023 has been a wild ride, and there are still over three months remaining in the year. The S&P 500 has gained a respectable 16%, led by a handful mega-cap tech names that have absolutely crushed the market.

What would be a good stock to buy and hold for the rest of 2023? It's tempting to look at the solid performances from big-cap tech, and assume their strength will continue for the rest of the year.

If I had to choose from that group, I'd look to Alphabet (GOOGL) . I own the stock and I believe it'll continue to outpace its peers, for reasons stated here.

However, there could be trouble on the horizon. Credit-card debt is at an all-time high, as Americans grapple with inflation. The rate of inflation has slowed, but prices are stabilizing at much higher levels.

We can't ignore what is happening on the S&P 500's chart, either. As several of my Real Money colleagues such as Doug Kass and Stephen Guilfoyle have already mentioned, the large-cap index appears to be forming a bearish head-and-shoulders pattern.

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Chart Source: TradeStation

Based on this chart, I wouldn't be surprised if the S&P 500 fell to the 4200 area. That's where a bullish trendline (green dotted line, A) and the index's 200-day moving average (red, B) should provide support in the event of a pullback.

If that pullback does occur, high-beta names like Alphabet could be hit hard. I'm looking for a stock that's technically strong like Alphabet, but less volatile.

I'm also looking for a business that stands to benefit from consumers' desire to spend less on essential items, like food. If I had to buy and hold one stock for the rest of the year, it'd be Walmart (WMT) .

On September 8, this stock closed at an all-time high. Walmart is trading well above its 50-day (blue) and 200-day (red) moving averages. Those indicators, along with Walmart's bullish trendline (green), show that the path of least resistance for this stock leads higher.

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Chart Source: TradeStation

Walmart's 15.5% year-to-date gain is outpacing the performance of other big-box retailers (blue). Home Depot ( (HD) , black) has gained just 4%, while Best Buy ( (BBY) , green) and Target ( (TGT) , red) have respectively lost 8.7% and 17% so far this year.

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Chart Source: TradeStation

In addition, Walmart sells many items, such as food, toothpaste, diapers, and over-the-counter medications, that can be considered consumer staples. This means that, should a recession occur, Walmart has the potential to continue to outperform the overall market.

(GOOGL is a holding in TheStreet's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio. Want to be alerted before the portfolio buys or sells these stocks? Learn more now.)

At the time of publication, Ponsi was long WMT and GOOGL.