Investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is McDonald's (MCD Quick QuoteMCD - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Retail-Wholesale peers, we might be able to answer that question.

McDonald's is one of 216 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 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. MCD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MCD's full-year earnings has moved 0.73% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, MCD has returned 0.63% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Retail-Wholesale group have lost about 3.69% on average. This means that McDonald's is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Breaking things down more, MCD is a member of the Retail - Restaurants industry, which includes 44 individual companies and currently sits at #70 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 7.36% so far this year, so MCD is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Retail-Wholesale sector will want to keep a close eye on MCD as it attempts to continue its solid performance.