Except for Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), these high-potential consumer stocks have advanced in the four-plus years since. Furthermore, despite concerns about a recession and inflation causing consumers to tighten their belts, consumer discretionary has been the third-best performing S&P 500 sector so far this year, after technology and communication services. Financial education site Simple.Thrifty.Living produced a study taking 35 companies and examining what you would have made by buying the stocks of these businesses instead of spending the money on their products.