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Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Sprouts Farmers (SFM - 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 Retail-Wholesale sector should help us answer this question.

Sprouts Farmers is a member of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group includes 209 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. Sprouts Farmers is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for SFM's full-year earnings has moved 8.3% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, SFM has moved about 105.6% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 13.2%. This means that Sprouts Farmers is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Wingstop (WING - Free Report) . The stock is up 50% year-to-date.

In Wingstop's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 10.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Sprouts Farmers belongs to the Food - Natural Foods Products industry, a group that includes 6 individual stocks and currently sits at #21 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 34.9% so far this year, so SFM is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Wingstop belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry. This 43-stock industry is currently ranked #157. The industry has moved +0.2% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Sprouts Farmers and Wingstop as they could maintain their solid performance.


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Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (SFM) - free report >>

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