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Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging Darden Restaurants (DRI) 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 Darden Restaurants (DRI - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Retail-Wholesale sector should help us answer this question.

Darden Restaurants is one of 221 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #7 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Darden Restaurants is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DRI's full-year earnings has moved 1.9% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, DRI has gained about 8.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of 7.1% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Darden Restaurants is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Retail-Wholesale stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is GameStop (GME - Free Report) . The stock has returned 9.5% year-to-date.

In GameStop's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 32% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Darden Restaurants is a member of the Retail - Restaurants industry, which includes 40 individual companies and currently sits at #62 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 11.4% this year, meaning that DRI is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, GameStop belongs to the Retail - Consumer Electronics industry. This 3-stock industry is currently ranked #102. The industry has moved -4.8% year to date.

Investors interested in the Retail-Wholesale sector may want to keep a close eye on Darden Restaurants and GameStop as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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