The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Central Garden (CENTA) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Central Garden is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 259 different companies and currently sits at #8 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 is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Central Garden is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CENTA's full-year earnings has moved 3% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Based on the latest available data, CENTA has gained about 29.5% so far this year. In comparison, Consumer Discretionary companies have returned an average of -6.6%. This means that Central Garden is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another stock in the Consumer Discretionary sector, H&R Block (HRB), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 20.4%.
In H&R Block's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 8.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Central Garden is a member of the Consumer Products - Discretionary industry, which includes 28 individual companies and currently sits at #98 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 15.4% this year, meaning that CENTA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, H&R Block belongs to the Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry. This 5-stock industry is currently ranked #189. The industry has moved +17.2% year to date.
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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Central Garden & Pet Company (CENTA): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).