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Has General Mills (GIS) Outpaced Other Consumer Staples Stocks This Year?

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Investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has General Mills (GIS - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Consumer Staples sector should help us answer this question.

General Mills is one of 192 companies in the Consumer Staples group. The Consumer Staples group currently sits at #10 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 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. General Mills is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GIS' full-year earnings has moved 1.9% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, GIS has gained about 5.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Staples sector has returned an average of -0.7% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, General Mills is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

United Natural Foods (UNFI - Free Report) is another Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 211.3%.

Over the past three months, United Natural Foods' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 24.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, General Mills is a member of the Food - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 48 individual companies and currently sits at #160 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 3.5% this year, meaning that GIS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. United Natural Foods is also part of the same industry.

Investors interested in the Consumer Staples sector may want to keep a close eye on General Mills and United Natural Foods as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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