Investors focused on the Business Services space have likely heard of Paychex (PAYX Quick QuotePAYX - 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.

Paychex is a member of our Business Services group, which includes 191 different companies and currently sits at #4 in 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 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. PAYX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PAYX's full-year earnings has moved 0.68% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, PAYX has moved about 28.21% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Business Services companies have returned an average of 27.58%. This means that Paychex is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, PAYX belongs to the Outsourcing industry, a group that includes 15 individual stocks and currently sits at #92 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 29.05% so far this year, so PAYX is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

PAYX will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.