For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Herbalife Ltd (HLF) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Herbalife Ltd is one of 208 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #9 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Herbalife Ltd is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HLF's full-year earnings has moved 12.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the latest available data, HLF has gained about 4.5% so far this year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have lost an average of 1.1%. This means that Herbalife Ltd is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another stock in the Retail-Wholesale sector, Next PLC (NXGPY), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 28%.
In Next PLC's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 3.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Herbalife Ltd belongs to the Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry, a group that includes 2 individual stocks and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 18.5% so far this year, so HLF is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
In contrast, Next PLC falls under the Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry. Currently, this industry has 41 stocks and is ranked #146. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -17.9%.
Herbalife Ltd and Next PLC could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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Herbalife Ltd (HLF): Free Stock Analysis Report Next PLC (NXGPY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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