Investors focused on the Retail-Wholesale space have likely heard of Darden Restaurants (DRI Quick QuoteDRI - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Retail-Wholesale peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Darden Restaurants is one of 208 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 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 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. DRI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DRI's full-year earnings has moved 8.49% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, DRI has moved about 14.93% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of -1.38%. As we can see, Darden Restaurants is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, DRI belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry, which includes 40 individual stocks and currently sits at #75 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 10.32% so far this year, so DRI is performing better in this area.

Investors in the Retail-Wholesale sector will want to keep a close eye on DRI as it attempts to continue its solid performance.