Investors interested in Business Services stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Acuity (AYI) one of those stocks right now? 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.
Acuity is one of 259 companies in the Business Services group. The Business Services group currently sits at #5 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. Acuity is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AYI's full-year earnings has moved 4% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that AYI has returned about 17% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Business Services companies have returned an average of -10.1%. This means that Acuity is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another stock in the Business Services sector, FirstCash Holdings (FCFS), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 42.9%.
For FirstCash Holdings, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Breaking things down more, Acuity is a member of the Technology Services industry, which includes 124 individual companies and currently sits at #72 in the Zacks Industry Rank.
In contrast, FirstCash Holdings falls under the Financial Transaction Services industry. Currently, this industry has 34 stocks and is ranked #153.
Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to Acuity and FirstCash Holdings as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Acuity, Inc. (AYI): Free Stock Analysis Report FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (FCFS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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