Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging Adtalem Global Education (ATGE) This Year?

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Investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Adtalem Global Education (ATGE) one of those stocks right now? 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.

Adtalem Global Education is one of 282 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #15 within 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Adtalem Global Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATGE's full-year earnings has moved 2.6% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, ATGE has returned 20.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of 8.7% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Adtalem Global Education is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Consumer Discretionary sector, Central Garden (CENTA), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 17.8%.

Over the past three months, Central Garden's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 10%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Adtalem Global Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 18 individual stocks and currently sits at #32 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 16.3% so far this year, so ATGE is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Central Garden, however, belongs to the Consumer Products - Discretionary industry. Currently, this 26-stock industry is ranked #78. The industry has moved -8.9% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to Adtalem Global Education and Central Garden as they could maintain their solid performance.

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