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Is Bridgepoint Education (BPI) Outperforming Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Bridgepoint Education 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? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of BPI and the rest of the Consumer Discretionary group's stocks.

Bridgepoint Education is one of 245 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #14 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. BPI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BPI's full-year earnings has moved 172.34% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that BPI has returned about 57.95% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Consumer Discretionary companies have returned an average of 5.30%. This means that Bridgepoint Education is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, BPI belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 15 individual companies and currently sits at #171 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 3.05% so far this year, so BPI is performing better in this area.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to BPI as it looks to continue its solid performance.