Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) Outperforming Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Royal Caribbean (RCL - 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.

Royal Caribbean is one of 286 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #16 within 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. Royal Caribbean is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for RCL's full-year earnings has moved 10.7% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that RCL has returned about 5% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have gained an average of 1.9%. This means that Royal Caribbean is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Consumer Discretionary stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Paramount Global (PARAA - Free Report) . The stock has returned 18.7% year-to-date.

For Paramount Global, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Royal Caribbean belongs to the Leisure and Recreation Services industry, which includes 35 individual stocks and currently sits at #175 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 4.5% so far this year, so RCL is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Paramount Global falls under the Media Conglomerates industry. Currently, this industry has 13 stocks and is ranked #77. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +20.3%.

Investors interested in the Consumer Discretionary sector may want to keep a close eye on Royal Caribbean and Paramount Global as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) - free report >>

Paramount Global (PARAA) - free report >>

Published in