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Is American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 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. Has American Eagle Outfitters (AEO - 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 Retail-Wholesale peers, we might be able to answer that question.

American Eagle Outfitters is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 226 different companies and currently sits at #11 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 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. American Eagle Outfitters is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEO's full-year earnings has moved 31% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, AEO has gained about 5.3% so far this year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of -23.6%. This shows that American Eagle Outfitters is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Retail-Wholesale sector, Urban Outfitters (URBN - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 11.2%.

For Urban Outfitters, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, American Eagle Outfitters belongs to the Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry, a group that includes 45 individual companies and currently sits at #153 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 34.2% so far this year, so AEO is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Urban Outfitters is also part of the same industry.

American Eagle Outfitters and Urban Outfitters could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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