Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging AutoNation (AN) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. AutoNation (AN) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? 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.

AutoNation is one of 196 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. AutoNation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AN's full-year earnings has moved 5.2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that AN has returned about 27.1% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Retail-Wholesale group have gained about 5.1% on average. This shows that AutoNation is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Retail-Wholesale stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Dollar General (DG). The stock has returned 34.4% year-to-date.

For Dollar General, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 6.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, AutoNation belongs to the Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry, a group that includes 10 individual companies and currently sits at #18 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 1.2% so far this year, meaning that AN is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Dollar General, however, belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry. Currently, this 8-stock industry is ranked #32. The industry has moved +3.5% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Retail-Wholesale sector may want to keep a close eye on AutoNation and Dollar General as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

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