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Are Consumer Staples Stocks Lagging Helen of Troy (HELE) 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 Helen of Troy (HELE - 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 Consumer Staples sector should help us answer this question.

Helen of Troy is a member of the Consumer Staples sector. This group includes 194 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #11. 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 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. Helen of Troy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HELE's full-year earnings has moved 1.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, HELE has returned 5.6% so far this year. At the same time, Consumer Staples stocks have lost an average of 4.5%. As we can see, Helen of Troy is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Ingredion (INGR - 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 1%.

Over the past three months, Ingredion's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Helen of Troy belongs to the Cosmetics industry, a group that includes 14 individual companies and currently sits at #192 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 22.3% so far this year, so HELE is performing better in this area.

Ingredion, however, belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 47-stock industry is ranked #112. The industry has moved -8% so far this year.

Helen of Troy and Ingredion could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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