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Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging American Public Education (APEI) 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. Has American Public Education (APEI - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Consumer Discretionary peers, we might be able to answer that question.

American Public Education is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 286 different companies and currently sits at #13 in 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. American Public Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEI's full-year earnings has moved 8.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, APEI has gained about 94.8% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary group have lost about 2.8% on average. This shows that American Public Education is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Crocs (CROX - Free Report) is another Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 49.6%.

For Crocs, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, American Public Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 19 individual stocks and currently sits at #23 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 9.9% this year, meaning that APEI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Crocs falls under the Textile - Apparel industry. Currently, this industry has 21 stocks and is ranked #148. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -17.1%.

American Public Education and Crocs could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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