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Is Penske Automotive Group (PAG) Outperforming Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Penske Automotive Group (PAG - Free Report) 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? 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.

Penske Automotive Group is one of 221 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #6 within 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 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. Penske Automotive Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PAG's full-year earnings has moved 8.2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that PAG has returned about 65.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Retail-Wholesale group have lost about 2.6% on average. This means that Penske Automotive Group is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, Penske Automotive Group belongs to the Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry, a group that includes 9 individual stocks and currently sits at #21 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 36.5% so far this year, so PAG is performing better in this area.

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