Investors focused on the Retail-Wholesale space have likely heard of McDonalds (MCD Quick QuoteMCD - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of MCD and the rest of the Retail-Wholesale group's stocks.

McDonalds is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 211 different companies and currently sits at #1 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. MCD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MCD's full-year earnings has moved 2.34% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, MCD has moved about 13.23% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have gained an average of 0.73%. This means that McDonalds is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, MCD belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry, a group that includes 40 individual stocks and currently sits at #87 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 18.21% so far this year, so MCD is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to MCD as it looks to continue its solid performance.