Has Charter Communications (CHTR) Outpaced Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Charter Communications (CHTR) 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 Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

Charter Communications is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 255 different companies and currently sits at #11 in 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 proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Charter Communications is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CHTR's full-year earnings has moved 3.7% 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 CHTR has returned about 24.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of 6.1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Charter Communications is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Consumer Discretionary sector, Legacy Education Inc. (LGCY), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 9.1%.

In Legacy Education Inc.'s case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 2.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Charter Communications belongs to the Cable Television industry, a group that includes 8 individual stocks and currently sits at #51 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 4.3% so far this year, so CHTR is performing better in this area.

Legacy Education Inc. however, belongs to the Schools industry. Currently, this 17-stock industry is ranked #36. The industry has moved +10.2% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Consumer Discretionary sector may want to keep a close eye on Charter Communications and Legacy Education Inc. as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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