Is New Oriental Education & Technology Group (EDU) Outperforming Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks 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 New Oriental Education (EDU) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

New Oriental Education is a member of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group includes 257 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #11. 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 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. New Oriental Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EDU's full-year earnings has moved 5.6% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, EDU has returned 15.4% so far this year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have lost an average of 5.2%. As we can see, New Oriental Education is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Consumer Discretionary sector, Sleep Number (SNBR), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 39.6%.

In Sleep Number's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 31.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, New Oriental Education belongs to the Schools industry, which includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #84 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 5.9% this year, meaning that EDU is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Sleep Number belongs to the Furniture industry. This 8-stock industry is currently ranked #196. The industry has moved +11.8% year to date.

Investors with an interest in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to track New Oriental Education and Sleep Number. 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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