Investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. B&G Foods (BGS) 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 Staples sector should help us answer this question.
B&G Foods is one of 173 companies in the Consumer Staples group. The Consumer Staples group currently sits at #15 within 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 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. B&G Foods is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BGS' full-year earnings has moved 8% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
According to our latest data, BGS has moved about 26.1% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Consumer Staples stocks have gained an average of 4.6%. This shows that B&G Foods is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Another Consumer Staples stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Scholastic (SCHL). The stock has returned 33.6% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Scholastic's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 31.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, B&G Foods belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 41 individual stocks and currently sits at #206 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 2.7% so far this year, meaning that BGS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
Scholastic, however, belongs to the Publishing - Books industry. Currently, this 2-stock industry is ranked #4. The industry has moved +25.6% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to B&G Foods and Scholastic as they could maintain their solid performance.
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B&G Foods, Inc. (BGS): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).