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Is British American Tobacco (BTI) Outperforming Other Consumer Staples Stocks This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Consumer Staples stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. British American Tobacco (BTI - 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 Staples sector should help us answer this question.

British American Tobacco is a member of our Consumer Staples group, which includes 183 different companies and currently sits at #13 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 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. British American Tobacco is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BTI's full-year earnings has moved 0.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, BTI has gained about 28.3% so far this year. In comparison, Consumer Staples companies have returned an average of 8.2%. This shows that British American Tobacco is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Consumer Staples sector, Wolters Kluwer NV (WTKWY - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 19%.

For Wolters Kluwer NV, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, British American Tobacco is a member of the Tobacco industry, which includes 6 individual companies and currently sits at #21 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 33.4% this year, meaning that BTI is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Wolters Kluwer NV, however, belongs to the Publishing - Books industry. Currently, this 4-stock industry is ranked #194. The industry has moved +33.5% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to British American Tobacco and Wolters Kluwer NV as they could maintain their solid performance.


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