For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Alibaba (BABA) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Retail-Wholesale peers, we might be able to answer that question.
Alibaba is one of 208 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #11 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. Alibaba is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BABA's full-year earnings has moved 9.2% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that BABA has returned about 48.3% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have lost an average of 1.4%. This means that Alibaba is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) is another Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 7.9%.
For BJ's Restaurants, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 15.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Alibaba belongs to the Internet - Commerce industry, which includes 37 individual stocks and currently sits at #88 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 3.8% this year, meaning that BABA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, BJ's Restaurants falls under the Retail - Restaurants industry. Currently, this industry has 39 stocks and is ranked #196. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -0.9%.
Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Alibaba and BJ's Restaurants as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA): Free Stock Analysis Report BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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