The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. American Public Education (APEI) 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 Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.
American Public Education is one of 246 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #3 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. American Public Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEI's full-year earnings has moved 6.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, APEI has gained about 58.7% so far this year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have lost an average of 4.3%. This shows that American Public Education is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Atlanta Braves Holdings (BATRK) is another Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 22.5%.
In Atlanta Braves Holdings' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 129.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Breaking things down more, American Public Education is a member of the Schools industry, which includes 18 individual companies and currently sits at #34 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 8.2% this year, meaning that APEI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Atlanta Braves Holdings falls under the Media Conglomerates industry. Currently, this industry has 20 stocks and is ranked #32. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -10.5%.
Investors interested in the Consumer Discretionary sector may want to keep a close eye on American Public Education and Atlanta Braves Holdings as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).