Largest companies by market cap in the consumer discretionary sector
(Editor's note: Rankings are as of Dec. 2, 2025.)
1. Amazon
- Market cap: $2.51 trillion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $691.3 billion
- Gross profit (TTM): $346.0 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 7.86%
- Year founded: 1994
TTM = trailing 12 months.
Originally an online bookstore, Amazon is now the world's most successful e-commerce company. Its streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, is available to more than 200 million Amazon Prime members. It owns Whole Foods Market; Twitch, a video game streaming service; and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's largest cloud infrastructure provider.
Since 2023, Amazon has been embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which alleges that Amazon took part in anticompetitive practices. A judge dismissed some of the FTC's claims in September 2024, but the remainder of the case is ongoing. It also settled another FTC lawsuit related to its Amazon Prime service for $2.5 billion in September 2025. Additionally, Amazon is facing a class-action lawsuit regarding third-party seller fees that were passed on to customers.
2. Tesla
- Market cap: $384.46 billion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $143.1 billion*
- Gross profit (TTM): $58.9 billion*
- Five-year annualized return: -7.92%
- Year founded: 1999
*Converted from Chinese yuan.
Alibaba is an e-commerce company that originally focused on business-to-business (B2B) sales. It later expanded to business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales, eventually becoming the largest e-commerce company in China.
In addition to online retail, Alibaba has branched out into financial services, media, and artificial intelligence (AI). It has an AI model, known as Qwen, and an AI assistant tool called Quark.
4. Home Depot
- Market cap: $256.75 billion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $317.1 billion*
- Gross profit (TTM): $57.0 billion*
- Five-year annualized return: 10.64%
- Year founded: 1937
*Converted from Japanese yen.
In terms of production, Toyota is the world's top automaker, producing more than 10 million new vehicles per year. Toyota's lineup includes cars, trucks, SUVs, hybrids, and EVs. Its bestselling vehicle is the Toyota Camry. Other popular vehicles include the Corolla, Tacoma, 4Runner, and the RAV4.
6. McDonald's
- Market cap: $214.60 billion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $26.3 billion
- Gross profit (TTM): $15.1 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 10.04%
- Year founded: 1940 (original restaurant chain), 1955 (McDonald's Corporation)
An iconic fast food chain, McDonald's has more than 40,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. That makes it the second-largest fast food company by number of locations.
McDonald's gets its name from Richard and Maurice McDonald, who founded the company in 1940. Businessman Ray Kroc partnered with the brothers in 1954 and convinced them to start franchising. Kroc purchased the business in 1961.
7. PDD Holdings
- Market cap: $168.80 billion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $59.2 billion*
- Gross profit (TTM): $33.5 billion*
- Five-year annualized return: -3.91%
- Year founded: 2015
*Converted from Chinese yuan.
PDD Holdings is a Chinese holding company that owns multiple e-commerce businesses. The most notable businesses in its portfolio are Temu and Pinduoduo. They're both online discount marketplaces, with Temu focusing more on international business and Pinduoduo on customers in China.
In 2023, PDD Holdings moved its legal domicile from China to Ireland. The move coincided with a marketing push to build Temu's brand in the U.S.
While Temu had become popular with U.S. consumers, the Trump administration's tariffs on China heavily affected its business, causing a 51% drop in monthly active users between March and June 2025. A federal appeals court ruled that most of the tariffs are illegal, which would be good news for PDD Holdings. However, the tariffs remained in place in late 2025, pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
8. The TJX Companies
- Market cap: $167.37 billion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $59.0 billion
- Gross profit (TTM): $18.2 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 20.15%
- Year founded: 1987
TJX Companies operates more than 5,000 off-price retail stores in nine countries. Its flagship chain is TJ Maxx. Other notable brands include Marshalls and Home Goods.
This retailer is known for offering marked-down prices on brand-name merchandise and for its unique "treasure hunt" shopping experience. TJX Companies sources items from more than 21,000 vendors and prioritizes carrying a variety of products over maintaining a full stock, so the selection changes frequently.
9. Booking Holdings
- Market cap: $166.43 billion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $26.0 billion
- Gross profit (TTM): $22.7 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 19.96%
- Year founded: 1996
Booking Holdings is a leader in the travel industry. It owns several well-known online travel agencies (OTAs), including Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, and Agoda. It also owns OpenTable, an online restaurant reservation service.
Thanks to its massive brand portfolio, Booking Holdings booked more than 1 billion room nights in 2024. It also facilitated 49 million flight tickets and 83 million rental car days. Booking Holdings makes most of its revenue through commissions it charges on reservations.
10. Lowe's Companies
- Market cap: $136.41 billion (as of Dec. 2)
- Revenue (TTM): $84.3 billion
- Gross profit (TTM): $28.3 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 11.90%
- Year founded: 1921
In business for more than a century, Lowe's was once the largest home improvement retailer in the U.S. It's currently second to Home Depot, with more than 1,700 locations across the U.S. Lowe's previously operated internationally before shutting down operations in Australia, Mexico, and Canada.
Like Home Depot, Lowe's serves homeowners and professional contractors. Products include building materials, tools, appliances, and lawn and garden equipment.
Related investing topics
Consumer discretionary sector takeaways for investors
As the largest consumer discretionary companies demonstrate, a strong brand is extremely valuable in this market sector. Several of the businesses on this list have well-established brand names that most consumers would immediately recognize.
Investors should also look for companies that have carved out success in a specific niche. Tesla's dominance in the electric vehicle market is one example, as is TJX Companies' leadership in off-price retail.
Another way to find winning consumer discretionary stocks is to go with companies that have cornered the market. Amazon, McDonald's, and Booking Holdings are all examples of companies that have gained dominant market shares in their respective industries.
Trump's tariffs, although currently under legal challenge, have made 2025 a turbulent time for consumer discretionary companies. Economic uncertainty and higher prices can both lead to lower discretionary spending, and some of the companies on this list are based in China or sell Chinese products. There are sound investments in this sector, but investors may want to be prepared for more volatility than usual.
About the Author
