Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging Casey's General Stores (CASY) This Year?
For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Casey's General Stores (CASY) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Casey's General Stores is one of 220 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #12 within 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 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. Casey's General Stores is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CASY's full-year earnings has moved 6.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the latest available data, CASY has gained about 6.5% so far this year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 6.5%. This means that Casey's General Stores is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is McDonald's (MCD). The stock is up 12% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, McDonald's' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.2%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
To break things down more, Casey's General Stores belongs to the Retail - Convenience Stores industry, a group that includes 2 individual companies and currently sits at #29 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 12.8% this year, meaning that CASY is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, McDonald's falls under the Retail - Restaurants industry. Currently, this industry has 40 stocks and is ranked #43. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +13.1%.
Investors interested in the Retail-Wholesale sector may want to keep a close eye on Casey's General Stores and McDonald's as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
McDonald's Corporation (MCD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
