Ride the Luxury Retail Wave with These 3 High-End Brand Stocks

Key Points

• Retail spending continues to form a K-shape, indicating that affluent consumers are spending while lower-income ones are pulling back.
• As a result, luxury brands with high-end product lines continue to produce record sales despite dips in consumer sentiment.
• Williams-Sonoma, Ralph Lauren, and Tapestry are three high-end retail stocks with strong tailwinds entering 2026.

The retail industry is beginning to look like a barbell, with significant growth at the top and bottom of the spectrum while the middle gets squeezed out. On one end, you have discount retailers like the TJX Companies Inc. NYSE: TJX, reporting record revenue and terrific stock gains.

Conversely, high-end outlets and brands like ULTA Beauty Inc. NASDAQ: ULTA and Kate Spade are producing strong sales while maintaining comfortable margins. And then in the middle, you have Target Corp. NYSE: TGT.

Value comes in different forms, whether it’s a discounted coffee maker from HomeGoods or a luxury furniture set that will survive three decades of usage. More than ever, consumers are demanding bang for their buck, seeking bargains or items built to last.

And with consumer spending becoming increasingly K-shaped (i.e., heavily reliant on affluent households), luxury brands have a significant tailwind to build on their 2025 performance.

Here are three soaring luxury brand stocks that are showing no signs of slowing down.

Williams-Sonoma: A Masterclass in Supply Chain Agility 

When President Trump began levying tariff after tariff on imports, Williams-Sonoma Inc. NYSE: WSM was predicted to be one of the companies taking the biggest margin hits. But in the words of the great Lee Corso: “Not so fast, my friend!” (Enjoy your retirement, Lee!) 

WSM has proven remarkably resilient in navigating tariff trouble, pulling forward inventories in the early stages of Trump’s trade war and maintaining margins through price increases and cost reductions.

WSM relies heavily on imports, sourcing materials from a wide range of countries, including China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

However, this nimble supply chain enables WSM to stay ahead of tariffs, as evident in its fiscal Q2 2026 earnings report.

WSM released results before the market opened on Aug. 27, with earnings per share (EPS) and revenue beating analyst expectations. More importantly, comp sales grew 3.7% year-over-year (YOY) in the quarter, and the company raised full-year guidance to a range of 2% to 5% revenue growth.

WSM also added 240 basis points to its gross margin despite the continued pressure of tariffs.

The stock is only up 9% year-to-date (YTD), but has soared more than 30% in the last three months as the business proved stronger than anticipated.

The Golden Cross on the daily chart suggests that further upside may be ahead as well, and the stock is finding support at the 50-day moving average.

Ralph Lauren: Iconic Brand, Global Strategy

One of the most recognizable brands in fashion and fragrance, Ralph Lauren Corp. NYSE: RL has also proven resilient at a time when others in the retail sector are buckling.

The stock is up more than 35% YTD, thanks to strong earnings and a 160-basis-point gross margin boost despite a heavy reliance on imports.

Over 95% of the company’s U.S. products are imported, but only 12% come from China, and no single country makes up more than 20% of the firm’s total import volume.

Ralph Lauren’s fiscal Q1 2026 results were released pre-market on Aug. 7, and the $1.72 billion revenue figure represented 13.7% YOY growth. EPS also beat expectations, and the company raised full-year guidance despite a cautious tone about inflation and tariff pressures.

The stock received two price target boosts from Wells Fargo and Needham & Company this month ($345 and $350, respectively), and the chart also hints at strong upward momentum. The price has found support at the 50-day SMA and has traded above the 50-day and 200-day SMAs since April. The MACD confirms the uptrend, so this rally still appears to have plenty of energy.

Tapestry Inc. 

Kate Spade falls under the Tapestry Inc. NYSE: TPR umbrella, along with Coach and Stuart Weitzman.

The New York-based brand is one of the most distinguished names in apparel and accessories, with name brands that appeal to high-end consumers.

Like most retailers, Tapestry incurred a tariff-related cost of $160 million for the 2025 fiscal year, which negatively impacted its margins.

But as the saying goes, they made it up in volume: a record revenue of $7 billion for FY 2025, driven by double-digit growth from the Coach brand.

Tapestry closed its fiscal Q4 2025 with $1.72 billion in revenue (8.3% YOY growth) and EPS of $1.02, both figures beating analysts’ projections. The company expects complete tariff mitigation by 2028 through added efficiency, plus price and scale increases.

The buyback and dividend raises also highlight management’s belief that profitability will only increase in the coming years. The stock dipped briefly following the Q4 report, but has now found support at the 50-day SMA. With the Relative Strength Index (RSI) back under 70, this could be a good entry point for new investors.