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Has Ralph Lauren (RL) Outpaced Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Consumer Discretionary space have likely heard of Ralph Lauren (RL - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? 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.

Ralph Lauren is one of 272 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #6 within 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Ralph Lauren is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ralph Lauren's full-year earnings has moved 19.01% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that Ralph Lauren has returned about 19.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of -4.95% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Ralph Lauren is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Consumer Discretionary stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Duluth Holdings Inc. (DLTH - Free Report) . The stock has returned 40.53% year to date.

For Duluth Holdings, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.52% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1.

Breaking things down more, Ralph Lauren is a member of the Textile - Apparel industry, which includes 22 individual companies and currently sits at #18 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 15.44% so far this year, so RL is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Duluth Holdings is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in the Consumer Discretionary sector should continue to pay close attention to Ralph Lauren and Duluth Holdings as they could maintain their solid performance.


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