Are Consumer Staples Stocks Lagging Lamb Weston (LW) This Year?

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

Lamb Weston is a member of the Consumer Staples sector. This group includes 187 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #14. 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 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. Lamb Weston is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LW's full-year earnings has moved 6.1% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, LW has returned 27.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Staples sector has returned an average of 12% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Lamb Weston is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Bunzl PLC (BZLFY) is another Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 36.4%.

The consensus estimate for Bunzl PLC's current year EPS has increased 3.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Lamb Weston belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 47 individual stocks and currently sits at #215 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 1.1% so far this year, so LW is performing better in this area. Bunzl PLC is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to track Lamb Weston and Bunzl PLC. 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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