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Is The Kroger Co. (KR) Stock Outpacing Its Retail-Wholesale Peers 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. Kroger (KR - 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.

Kroger is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 230 different companies and currently sits at #15 in 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 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. Kroger is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for KR's full-year earnings has moved 4.5% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, KR has moved about 4.7% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have lost an average of 24.5%. This means that Kroger is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Spartan Stores (SPTN - Free Report) is another Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 17%.

For Spartan Stores, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 6.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Kroger belongs to the Retail - Supermarkets industry, which includes 9 individual stocks and currently sits at #242 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 11% so far this year, so KR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Spartan Stores, however, belongs to the Food - Natural Foods Products industry. Currently, this 7-stock industry is ranked #58. The industry has moved -2.1% so far this year.

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


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