Has Costco Wholesale (COST) Outpaced Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?
The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Costco Wholesale (COST) 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? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of COST and the rest of the Retail-Wholesale group's stocks.
Costco Wholesale is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 213 different companies and currently sits at #2 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. COST is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for COST's full-year earnings has moved 2.11% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Our latest available data shows that COST has returned about 22.76% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of -2.79%. This means that Costco Wholesale is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
To break things down more, COST belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, a group that includes 8 individual companies and currently sits at #184 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 16.19% so far this year, so COST is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to COST as it looks to continue its solid performance.
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