The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Whirlpool (WHR Quick QuoteWHR - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Whirlpool is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 237 different companies and currently sits at #10 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 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. WHR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for WHR's full-year earnings has moved 26.85% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, WHR has returned 20.52% so far this year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have lost an average of 1.98%. As we can see, Whirlpool is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, WHR belongs to the Household Appliances industry, a group that includes 6 individual stocks and currently sits at #55 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 20.05% so far this year, so WHR is performing better in this area.

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