Is American Public Education (APEI) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Discretionary Peers 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. Has American Public Education (APEI) 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 Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

American Public Education is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 259 different companies and currently sits at #6 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. American Public Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEI's full-year earnings has moved 9% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, APEI has moved about 54.2% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Consumer Discretionary companies have returned an average of -8.9%. This shows that American Public Education is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Columbia Sportswear (COLM). The stock is up 14.3% year-to-date.

For Columbia Sportswear, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 11.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, American Public Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 18 individual stocks and currently sits at #98 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 6.5% so far this year, meaning that APEI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Columbia Sportswear, however, belongs to the Textile - Apparel industry. Currently, this 22-stock industry is ranked #186. The industry has moved -5% so far this year.

American Public Education and Columbia Sportswear could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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

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