Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging Central Garden & Pet (CENT) 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. Central Garden (CENT) 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.

Central Garden is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 256 different companies and currently sits at #10 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 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. Central Garden is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CENT's full-year earnings has moved 3.4% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, CENT has returned 16.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary group have lost about 2.7% on average. This means that Central Garden is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Central Garden (CENTA). The stock is up 14.7% year-to-date.

In Central Garden's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 3.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Central Garden belongs to the Consumer Products - Discretionary industry, a group that includes 27 individual stocks and currently sits at #146 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 12.1% this year, meaning that CENT is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Central Garden is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to Central Garden and Central Garden as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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