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Has RentACenter (RCII) Outpaced Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

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The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. RentACenter is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of RCII and the rest of the Consumer Discretionary group's stocks.

RentACenter is one of 251 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #9 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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. RCII is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for RCII's full-year earnings has moved 48% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, RCII has moved about 60.25% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Consumer Discretionary companies have returned an average of 10.13%. This means that RentACenter is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, RCII belongs to the Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 13 individual stocks and currently sits at #226 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 19.35% so far this year, so RCII is performing better in this area.

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

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