We recently published a list of Why These 15 Defensive Stocks Are Surging In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc (NYSE:BJ) stands against other defensive stocks that are surging in 2025.
Defensive stocks are surging as investors have been shifting their focus. Growth stocks dominated the past two years. Now, slower economic signals and rising risks are changing the landscape due to market uncertainty.
Defensive stocks offer much more stability and tend to perform well even in tough times. People still need electricity, medicine, and food. That reliability draws investors when uncertainty grows.
Many are rotating into these stocks for safety. The surge suggests a broader trend. It could mark a turning point after years of growth-led rallies., so it’s worth looking into the defensive stocks that stand out right now.
Methodology
For this article, I screened the best-performing defensive stocks year-to-date.
I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A customer happily filling up their tank at the Wholesale Club’s gasoline station.
BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc (NYSE:BJ)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 43
BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc (NYSE:BJ) operates membership-based warehouse clubs.
The stock is up significantly so far in 2025 due to the company reporting solid Q4 2024 figures. It reported 4% year-over-year comparable club sales, with a 4.6% rise if you exclude gasoline sales.
Moreover, membership fee income grew by 7.9% to $117 million. Digitally enabled comparable sales also surged by 26%, and EPS (diluted) reached $0.92, with an adjusted EPS of $0.93.
BJ’s has pursued an aggressive growth plan and announced the opening of 25-30 new clubs over the next two fiscal years, including its first entry into Texas with locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2026. Recent openings include Southern Pines, North Carolina (March 7, 2025), and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (February 28, 2025), along with others planned for 2025.
The consensus price target of $108.71 implies 1.73% downside.
BJ stock is up 23.69% year-to-date.
Overall, BJ ranks 6th on our list of defensive stocks that are surging in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of BJ as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BJ but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
