For those looking to find strong Consumer Staples stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Archer Daniels Midland (ADM Quick QuoteADM - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Archer Daniels Midland is a member of the Consumer Staples sector. This group includes 177 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #15. 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. ADM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ADM's full-year earnings has moved 8.26% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, ADM has returned 17.56% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Staples group have lost about 6.76% on average. As we can see, Archer Daniels Midland is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, ADM belongs to the Agriculture - Operations industry, which includes 9 individual stocks and currently sits at #112 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 10.29% so far this year, meaning that ADM is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Consumer Staples sector will want to keep a close eye on ADM as it attempts to continue its solid performance.