For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Central Garden (CENT) 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.
Central Garden is one of 260 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #8 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. Central Garden is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CENT's full-year earnings has moved 3.6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, CENT has gained about 38.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of -6.2% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Central Garden is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Gray Media (GTN). The stock is up 4.3% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Gray Media's current year EPS has increased 29.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Central Garden belongs to the Consumer Products - Discretionary industry, a group that includes 28 individual companies and currently sits at #96 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 15% so far this year, so CENT is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Gray Media falls under the Broadcast Radio and Television industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #98. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -12.9%.
Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to Central Garden and Gray Media as they could maintain their solid performance.
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