The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Chico's FAS (CHS) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Retail-Wholesale sector should help us answer this question.

Chico's FAS is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 230 different companies and currently sits at #15 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Chico's FAS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CHS' full-year earnings has moved 49% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that CHS has returned about 1.5% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have lost an average of 23.4%. This shows that Chico's FAS is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Designer Brands (DBI). The stock is up 2.7% year-to-date.

For Designer Brands, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Chico's FAS is a member of the Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry, which includes 42 individual companies and currently sits at #201 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 38.9% this year, meaning that CHS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Designer Brands is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Chico's FAS and Designer Brands as they could maintain their solid performance.

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