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Is Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Discretionary Peers This Year?

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Investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Royal Caribbean (RCL - 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.

Royal Caribbean is one of 285 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #14 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 21.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that RCL has returned about 10.7% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have lost an average of 3.5%. This shows that Royal Caribbean is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Consumer Discretionary stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Accel Entertainment (ACEL - Free Report) . The stock has returned 8.2% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Accel Entertainment's current year EPS has increased 13.6% 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 #185 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 1.9% so far this year, meaning that RCL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Accel Entertainment, however, belongs to the Gaming industry. Currently, this 37-stock industry is ranked #154. The industry has moved -4.9% so far this year.

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


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