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Is Costco (COST) 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. Has Costco (COST - 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.

Costco is one of 220 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #2 within 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 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. Costco is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for COST's full-year earnings has moved 5.8% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, COST has moved about 50.7% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of -8% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Costco is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Retail-Wholesale stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Lovesac (LOVE - Free Report) . The stock has returned 52.9% year-to-date.

For Lovesac, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 39.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Costco is a member of the Retail - Discount Stores industry, which includes 8 individual companies and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 28.6% so far this year, meaning that COST is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Lovesac belongs to the Retail - Home Furnishings industry. This 9-stock industry is currently ranked #21. The industry has moved +46.7% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Costco and Lovesac as they could maintain their solid performance.

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