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Is American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) Outperforming Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?

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Investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is American Eagle Outfitters (AEO - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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.

American Eagle Outfitters is one of 218 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #9 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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 #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEO's full-year earnings has moved 18.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that AEO has returned about 9.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of 9.7% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, American Eagle Outfitters is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Burlington Stores (BURL - Free Report) . The stock is up 13.7% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Burlington Stores' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.9%. 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 42 individual companies and currently sits at #176 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 14.3% so far this year, so AEO is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

Burlington Stores, however, belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry. Currently, this 9-stock industry is ranked #93. The industry has moved +9.8% so far this year.

American Eagle Outfitters and Burlington Stores 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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