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Is New Oriental Education & Technology Group (EDU) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Discretionary Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has New Oriental Education (EDU - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Consumer Discretionary peers, we might be able to answer that question.

New Oriental Education is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 285 different companies and currently sits at #11 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. New Oriental Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EDU's full-year earnings has moved 105.7% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that EDU has returned about 9.5% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of -41.5% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, New Oriental Education is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Consumer Discretionary sector, Virco Manufacturing Corporation (VIRC - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 36.9%.

Over the past three months, Virco Manufacturing Corporation's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 82.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, New Oriental Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 18 individual companies and currently sits at #93 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 14% so far this year, so EDU is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Virco Manufacturing Corporation falls under the Furniture industry. Currently, this industry has 8 stocks and is ranked #213. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -16.7%.

New Oriental Education and Virco Manufacturing Corporation could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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