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Is Harte Hanks (HHS) Stock Outpacing Its Business Services Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Business Services stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Harte-Hanks (HHS - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Harte-Hanks is one of 344 individual stocks in the Business Services sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 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 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. Harte-Hanks is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HHS' full-year earnings has moved 5% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that HHS has returned about 5.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Business Services group have lost about 25.2% on average. As we can see, Harte-Hanks is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Core & Main (CNM - Free Report) . The stock is up 9.7% year-to-date.

For Core & Main, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 10.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Harte-Hanks belongs to the Advertising and Marketing industry, a group that includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #18 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 14.3% so far this year, so HHS is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, Core & Main belongs to the Waste Removal Services industry. This 16-stock industry is currently ranked #92. The industry has moved -13.7% year to date.

Investors interested in the Business Services sector may want to keep a close eye on Harte-Hanks and Core & Main as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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