Wall Street has rewarded both Tractor Supply (NASDAQ: TSCO) and Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA) stocks for the outperformance of their businesses lately. While most of the retailing world struggles to find growth and protect margins, these two companies are expanding sales and profitability. Their management teams project further gains ahead for 2023, as well.

So, let's compare these two retailers to see which looks like the better investment right now.

Tractor Supply and Ulta Beauty are both positioned in unusually strong retailing niches, which is helping accelerate growth. Consumer demand for beauty products and rural lifestyle products hasn't fallen at the same rate that it has for niches like home furnishings. You can see the impact in comparable-store sales, which were up by 9% for Tractor Supply last quarter and 16% at Ulta Beauty. Companies like Home Depot and Target are seeing roughly flat results, in contrast.

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Source Fool.com