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Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) This Year?

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Investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Trip.com (TCOM - Free Report) 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

Trip.com is one of 281 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 in 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 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. Trip.com is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TCOM's full-year earnings has moved 14.2% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, TCOM has gained about 25.7% so far this year. In comparison, Consumer Discretionary companies have returned an average of -3.6%. This means that Trip.com is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

American Public Education (APEI - Free Report) is another Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 114.3%.

In American Public Education's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 37.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Trip.com belongs to the Leisure and Recreation Services industry, a group that includes 31 individual stocks and currently sits at #189 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 3.4% this year, meaning that TCOM is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, American Public Education belongs to the Schools industry. This 18-stock industry is currently ranked #35. The industry has moved +5.2% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to Trip.com and American Public Education as they could maintain their solid performance.


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