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Is Amazon.com (AMZN) Stock Outpacing Its Retail-Wholesale Peers 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 Amazon (AMZN - 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.

Amazon is one of 187 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #12 within 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Amazon is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMZN's full-year earnings has moved 0.1% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that AMZN has returned about 3.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of -1.5% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Amazon is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Retail-Wholesale sector, Brinker International (EAT - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 17.1%.

The consensus estimate for Brinker International's current year EPS has increased 0.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Amazon belongs to the Internet - Commerce industry, which includes 35 individual stocks and currently sits at #182 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 4.8% so far this year, meaning that AMZN is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Brinker International belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry. This 36-stock industry is currently ranked #191. The industry has moved +0.8% year to date.

Investors interested in the Retail-Wholesale sector may want to keep a close eye on Amazon and Brinker International as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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