For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Brinker International (EAT) 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.
Brinker International is one of 193 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #8 within 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. Brinker International is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EAT's full-year earnings has moved 4.5% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the latest available data, EAT has gained about 12.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of -0.1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Brinker International is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Williams-Sonoma (WSM) is another Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 20.2%.
The consensus estimate for Williams-Sonoma's current year EPS has increased 0.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Brinker International belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry, a group that includes 39 individual stocks and currently sits at #190 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 6.3% this year, meaning that EAT is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Williams-Sonoma falls under the Retail - Home Furnishings industry. Currently, this industry has 10 stocks and is ranked #174. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +15.1%.
Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Brinker International and Williams-Sonoma as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Brinker International, Inc. (EAT): Free Stock Analysis Report Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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