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Is Sonic Automotive (SAH) Outperforming Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?

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The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Sonic Automotive (SAH - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

Sonic Automotive is one of 187 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #3 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 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. Sonic Automotive is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SAH's full-year earnings has moved 6% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, SAH has gained about 49.3% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Retail-Wholesale sector has returned an average of 1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Sonic Automotive 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 Tilly's (TLYS - Free Report) . The stock is up 111.1% year-to-date.

In Tilly's' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 67.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Sonic Automotive is a member of the Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry, which includes 9 individual companies and currently sits at #107 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 6.5% this year, meaning that SAH is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Tilly's, however, belongs to the Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry. Currently, this 38-stock industry is ranked #73. The industry has moved -7.6% so far this year.

Investors with an interest in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to track Sonic Automotive and Tilly's. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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