You are tasked with forecasting monthly sales data for your company. The historical sales data shows a consistent upward trend without any significant fluctuations or seasonality. Given the nature of your data, which forecasting method would be most appropriate to use?

Group of answer choices

Linear regression, because it cannot handle non$-$linear trends or sudden changes in the data pattern effectively.

Exponential smoothing, because it is especially good at adapting to changes in the level of a series, making it suitable for data with occasional random spikes.

Exponential smoothing, because it efficiently smooths out random fluctuations and is ideal for data with no significant trends.

Exponential smoothing, because it assigns exponentially decreasing weights to past observations, which may be unnecessary for data with a stable trend.

Linear regression, because it can model a consistent trend by fitting a straight line through the data points, making it suitable for data with a clear upward trend.