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Is Clorox (CLX) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Staples Peers This Year?

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Investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Clorox (CLX - 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Clorox is a member of the Consumer Staples sector. This group includes 193 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #13. 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 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. Clorox is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLX's full-year earnings has moved 22.2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, CLX has gained about 7.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Staples group have gained about 1.8% on average. As we can see, Clorox is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Consumer Staples stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is WD-40 (WDFC - Free Report) . The stock has returned 10.1% year-to-date.

For WD-40, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Clorox is a member of the Soap and Cleaning Materials industry, which includes 7 individual companies and currently sits at #16 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 8.6% so far this year, so CLX is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

WD-40, however, belongs to the Consumer Products - Staples industry. Currently, this 30-stock industry is ranked #161. The industry has moved -6.7% so far this year.

Clorox and WD-40 could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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