Investors focused on the Retail-Wholesale space have likely heard of Costco Wholesale (COST Quick QuoteCOST - 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.

Costco Wholesale is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 225 different companies and currently sits at #5 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. COST is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for COST's full-year earnings has moved 1.12% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, COST has returned 45.95% so far this year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have gained an average of 19.61%. This means that Costco Wholesale is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, COST belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, a group that includes 10 individual companies and currently sits at #57 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 43.95% this year, meaning that COST is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Retail-Wholesale sector will want to keep a close eye on COST as it attempts to continue its solid performance.