Benzinga - by Zacks, Benzinga Contributor.
Investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Tractor Supply (NASDAQ: TSCO) 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.
Tractor Supply is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 212 different companies and currently sits at #10 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 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. Tractor Supply is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for TSCO's full-year earnings has moved 1.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, TSCO has gained about 32.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Retail-Wholesale group have gained about 10.7% on average. This means that Tractor Supply is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Walmart (NYSE: WMT). The stock is up 24% year-to-date.
For Walmart, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Tractor Supply belongs to the Retail - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 19 individual companies and currently sits at #91 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 2.2% so far this year, so TSCO is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
Walmart, however, belongs to the Retail - Supermarkets industry. Currently, this 9-stock industry is ranked #91. The industry has moved +23.4% so far this year.
Tractor Supply and Walmart could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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