Investors focused on the Retail-Wholesale space have likely heard of Darden Restaurants (DRI Quick QuoteDRI - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Darden Restaurants is one of 222 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale 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 is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. DRI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DRI's full-year earnings has moved 1.07% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, DRI has moved about 8.16% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have gained an average of 7.36%. This shows that Darden Restaurants is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Breaking things down more, DRI is a member of the Retail - Restaurants industry, which includes 47 individual companies and currently sits at #105 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 3.20% so far this year, meaning that DRI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors with an interest in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to track DRI. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.