Investors focused on the Consumer Staples space have likely heard of The J. M. Smucker (SJM Quick QuoteSJM - 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.

The J. M. Smucker is a member of our Consumer Staples group, which includes 176 different companies and currently sits at #8 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 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. SJM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for SJM's full-year earnings has moved 0.59% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, SJM has moved about 5.89% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Staples group have lost about 20.37% on average. This means that The J. M. Smucker is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, SJM belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 43 individual stocks and currently sits at #85 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 20.54% so far this year, so SJM is performing better in this area.

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