The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Coherent (COHR) 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.
Coherent is one of 234 individual stocks in the Business Services sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #9 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. Coherent is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for COHR's full-year earnings has moved 7.8% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that COHR has returned about 64.7% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Business Services stocks have lost an average of 10.8%. As we can see, Coherent is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Business Services sector, Kforce (KFRC), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 48.4%.
Over the past three months, Kforce's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 13%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Coherent is a member of the Technology Services industry, which includes 111 individual companies and currently sits at #177 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 5.5% so far this year, so COHR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Kforce falls under the Staffing Firms industry. Currently, this industry has 13 stocks and is ranked #79. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +7.9%.
Investors with an interest in Business Services stocks should continue to track Coherent and Kforce. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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Coherent Corp. (COHR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).