For those looking to find strong Business Services stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Experian PLC (EXPGY) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Business Services peers, we might be able to answer that question.
Experian PLC is a member of our Business Services group, which includes 257 different companies and currently sits at #8 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 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. Experian PLC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EXPGY's full-year earnings has moved 1.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, EXPGY has gained about 7.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Business Services group have lost about 6.2% on average. This means that Experian PLC is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
FirstCash Holdings (FCFS) is another Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 55.4%.
Over the past three months, FirstCash Holdings' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.8%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, Experian PLC belongs to the Business - Information Services industry, a group that includes 8 individual stocks and currently sits at #107 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 23.5% so far this year, so EXPGY is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, FirstCash Holdings falls under the Financial Transaction Services industry. Currently, this industry has 34 stocks and is ranked #170. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -6.8%.
Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to Experian PLC and FirstCash Holdings as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Experian PLC (EXPGY): 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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