Has Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) Outpaced Other Business Services Stocks This Year?

For those looking to find strong Business Services stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Business Services sector should help us answer this question.

Clear Channel Outdoor is a member of the Business Services sector. This group includes 253 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Clear Channel Outdoor is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CCO's full-year earnings has moved 9.5% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, CCO has returned 1.5% so far this year. At the same time, Business Services stocks have gained an average of 1.4%. As we can see, Clear Channel Outdoor is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Business Services sector, Cipher Mining Inc. (CIFR), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 166.8%.

For Cipher Mining Inc., the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Clear Channel Outdoor belongs to the Advertising and Marketing industry, a group that includes 16 individual companies and currently sits at #99 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 15.4% this year, meaning that CCO is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Cipher Mining Inc., however, belongs to the Technology Services industry. Currently, this 118-stock industry is ranked #82. The industry has moved +34.6% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to Clear Channel Outdoor and Cipher Mining Inc. as they could maintain their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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