Is Lancaster Colony (LANC) Outperforming Other Consumer Staples Stocks This Year?
The Consumer Staples group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Lancaster Colony (LANC) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Consumer Staples peers, we might be able to answer that question.
Lancaster Colony is a member of the Consumer Staples sector. This group includes 201 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #14. 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 is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Lancaster Colony is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LANC's full-year earnings has moved 54.4% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Our latest available data shows that LANC has returned about 1.9% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Consumer Staples companies have returned an average of -11.1%. As we can see, Lancaster Colony is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
PepsiCo (PEP) is another Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 0.8%.
Over the past three months, PepsiCo's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Lancaster Colony belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 51 individual stocks and currently sits at #177 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 3.2% so far this year, meaning that LANC is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, PepsiCo belongs to the Beverages - Soft drinks industry. This 17-stock industry is currently ranked #155. The industry has moved -1.8% year to date.
Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to Lancaster Colony and PepsiCo as they could maintain their solid performance.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Lancaster Colony Corporation (LANC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
