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 Brinker International (EAT) been one of those stocks this year? 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 a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 209 different companies and currently sits at #8 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. Brinker International is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EAT's full-year earnings has moved 5.5% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that EAT has returned about 28% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 2.5%. This means that Brinker International is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is MercadoLibre (MELI). The stock is up 51.8% year-to-date.
In MercadoLibre's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 2.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Brinker International is a member of the Retail - Restaurants industry, which includes 39 individual companies and currently sits at #174 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 0.8% so far this year, meaning that EAT is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, MercadoLibre falls under the Internet - Commerce industry. Currently, this industry has 38 stocks and is ranked #67. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +3%.
Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Brinker International and MercadoLibre as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Brinker International, Inc. (EAT): Free Stock Analysis Report MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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