Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging Central Garden & Pet (CENTA) This Year?

The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Central Garden (CENTA) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Consumer Discretionary peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Central Garden is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 261 different companies and currently sits at #14 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).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CENTA's full-year earnings has moved 3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, CENTA has moved about 18.6% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary group have lost about 11.6% on average. This means that Central Garden is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Consumer Discretionary stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is H&R Block (HRB). The stock has returned 5.2% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, H&R Block's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.1%. 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 29 individual stocks and currently sits at #171 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 4.8% so far this year, meaning that CENTA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

H&R Block, however, belongs to the Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 5-stock industry is ranked #191. The industry has moved +4.5% so far this year.

Investors with an interest in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to track Central Garden and H&R Block. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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

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