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Is KimberlyClark (KMB) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Staples Peers This Year?

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The Consumer Staples group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Kimberly-Clark (KMB - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Kimberly-Clark is a member of our Consumer Staples group, which includes 184 different companies and currently sits at #14 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Kimberly-Clark is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KMB's full-year earnings has moved 3% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, KMB has gained about 11.1% so far this year. In comparison, Consumer Staples companies have returned an average of 4%. This shows that Kimberly-Clark is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Coca-Cola (KO - 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 13.3%.

In Coca-Cola's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Kimberly-Clark belongs to the Consumer Products - Staples industry, a group that includes 27 individual companies and currently sits at #177 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 0.4% so far this year, so KMB is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Coca-Cola belongs to the Beverages - Soft drinks industry. This 14-stock industry is currently ranked #160. The industry has moved +4.8% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to Kimberly-Clark and Coca-Cola as they could maintain their solid performance.


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