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Is Herbalife Ltd (HLF) Stock Outpacing Its Retail-Wholesale Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Herbalife Ltd (HLF - 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? 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.

Herbalife Ltd is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 195 different companies and currently sits at #11 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Herbalife Ltd is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HLF's full-year earnings has moved 7.7% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, HLF has moved about 18.1% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of -2.5% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Herbalife Ltd 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 J.Jill (JILL - Free Report) . The stock is up 12.6% year-to-date.

In J.Jill's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 6.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Herbalife Ltd belongs to the Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry, which includes 2 individual stocks and currently sits at #5 in the Zacks Industry Rank.

On the other hand, J.Jill belongs to the Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry. This 39-stock industry is currently ranked #61. The industry has moved -8.5% year to date.

Herbalife Ltd and J.Jill 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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