Is Costco Wholesale (COST) Outperforming Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?
Investors focused on the Retail-Wholesale space have likely heard of Costco Wholesale (COST), but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of COST and the rest of the Retail-Wholesale group's stocks.
Costco Wholesale is one of 224 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #4 within 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. COST is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for COST's full-year earnings has moved 1.61% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Based on the latest available data, COST has gained about 37.18% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Retail-Wholesale group have gained about 21.96% on average. This means that Costco Wholesale is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
To break things down more, COST belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, a group that includes 10 individual companies and currently sits at #17 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 31.48% this year, meaning that COST is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
COST will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.
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