October was the worst month for the retail space since January 2014 and from a chart perspective, Piper Jaffray technician Craig Johnson says the group is a no touch for investors.
"When you look at that XRT chart, you'll see that it looks like a multiyear head and shoulders top, so at this point it looks like you're making that right shoulder," he said Tuesday on CNBC's "Power Lunch." "A break below $38 would suggest that perhaps we're going to start a whole other leg lower."
In fact, Johnson believes the XRT retail ETF could even tumble back down to "support" at around $30, which would mean a 24 percent drop from Wednesday's levels.
"You don't have good support until $30 to $32, I don't want to be buying the XRT at this point in time," he added.
According to Chad Morganlander, a portfolio manager at Washington Crossing Advisors,
there's one name among the retail rubble that is still worth buying: Wal-Mart.
While the XRT has tumbled 10 percent this year, Wal-Mart has outperformed, soaring more than 27 percent, giving Morganlander faith that the retailer can keep rallying, even in light of "the Amazon effect" that he believes "has been massively disruptive and deflationary to all retail."
"We think the transition to online is going well, and the valuation makes sense as long as you're looking three to five years out," Morganlander said on "Power Lunch."
He also suggests that investors should look at Starbucks and Nike. Both are in the consumer discretionary sector, and the portfolio manager believes that along with Wal-Mart, the two companies will see substantial growth in the future.
Starbucks is down more than 14 percent from its 2017 high hit on June 5. Nike, however, has been on a comeback, with the stock up more than 6 percent in the last month.
"All three of these companies are growing, profitable, well-capitalized with growing dividends, hence the reason why we're recommending them today," he said.
Retail stocks began November with a 0.5 percent drop Wednesday, taking the group back to its Sept. 1 lows.
Disclosure: Washington Crossing Advisors owns shares of Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Nike. Chad Morganlander does not personally own shares of the three companies.
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