For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Target (TGT Quick QuoteTGT - 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.

Target is one of 204 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 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. TGT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TGT's full-year earnings has moved 26.88% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, TGT has gained about 7.72% so far this year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have gained an average of 4.32%. As we can see, Target is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, TGT belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, a group that includes 8 individual companies and currently sits at #106 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 2.02% so far this year, so TGT is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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