The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. FTI Consulting (FCN) 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 Business Services sector should help us answer this question.
FTI Consulting is one of 244 companies in the Business Services group. The Business Services group currently sits at #6 within 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 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. FTI Consulting is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCN's full-year earnings has moved 6.1% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, FCN has moved about 7% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Business Services sector has returned an average of -10.3% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, FTI Consulting is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another Business Services stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is MasterCard (MA). The stock has returned 11.8% year-to-date.
In MasterCard's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 0.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, FTI Consulting belongs to the Consulting Services industry, which includes 13 individual stocks and currently sits at #74 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 8.8% so far this year, meaning that FCN is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
MasterCard, however, belongs to the Financial Transaction Services industry. Currently, this 36-stock industry is ranked #171. The industry has moved -2.7% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to FTI Consulting and MasterCard as they could maintain their solid performance.
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FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).