Investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Accel Entertainment (ACEL) 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.
Accel Entertainment is one of 246 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in 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 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. Accel Entertainment is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACEL's full-year earnings has moved 3.4% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Our latest available data shows that ACEL has returned about 2.1% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of -6.1% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Accel Entertainment is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is H World Group (HTHT). The stock is up 14.2% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, H World Group's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
To break things down more, Accel Entertainment belongs to the Gaming industry, a group that includes 38 individual companies and currently sits at #143 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 18.9% so far this year, meaning that ACEL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, H World Group falls under the Hotels and Motels industry. Currently, this industry has 13 stocks and is ranked #173. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +8.7%.
Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to Accel Entertainment and H World Group as they could maintain their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).