Is KornFerry International (KFY) Stock Outpacing Its Business Services Peers This Year?

The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Korn/Ferry (KFY) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Korn/Ferry is one of 247 individual stocks in the Business Services sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #6 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. Korn/Ferry is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for KFY's full-year earnings has moved 0.9% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, KFY has gained about 10.8% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Business Services sector has returned an average of -8.5% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Korn/Ferry is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Business Services sector, Everpure (P), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 18.4%.

For Everpure, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 27.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Korn/Ferry belongs to the Staffing Firms industry, which includes 13 individual stocks and currently sits at #212 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 28.2% so far this year, so KFY is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Everpure, however, belongs to the Technology Services industry. Currently, this 121-stock industry is ranked #109. The industry has moved -0.4% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to Korn/Ferry and Everpure as they could maintain their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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