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Is Costco Wholesale (COST) Outperforming Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?

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The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Costco (COST - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Retail-Wholesale sector should help us answer this question.

Costco is a member of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group includes 210 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #10. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. Costco is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for COST's full-year earnings has moved 0.9% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, COST has moved about 28.6% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of 13.8% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Costco is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Walmart (WMT - Free Report) . The stock is up 32.5% year-to-date.

In Walmart's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Costco belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, which includes 9 individual stocks and currently sits at #60 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 18.3% this year, meaning that COST is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Walmart belongs to the Retail - Supermarkets industry. This 9-stock industry is currently ranked #19. The industry has moved +30.9% year to date.

Costco 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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