Are Business Services Stocks Lagging ICF International (ICFI) This Year?
The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is ICF International (ICFI) one of those stocks right now? 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.
ICF International is a member of our Business Services group, which includes 335 different companies and currently sits at #8 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
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. ICF International is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ICFI's full-year earnings has moved 7.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Based on the most recent data, ICFI has returned 12.7% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Business Services group have gained about 1.4% on average. As we can see, ICF International is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
WPP PLC (WPP) is another Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 14.5%.
Over the past three months, WPP PLC's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, ICF International belongs to the Government Services industry, a group that includes 3 individual stocks and currently sits at #8 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 4.5% so far this year, so ICFI is performing better in this area.
On the other hand, WPP PLC belongs to the Advertising and Marketing industry. This 16-stock industry is currently ranked #116. The industry has moved -5% year to date.
Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to ICF International and WPP PLC as they could maintain their solid performance.
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ICF International, Inc. (ICFI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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