Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) This Year?

Read MoreHide Full Article

For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has InterContinental Hotels (IHG - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

InterContinental Hotels is a member of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group includes 261 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #10. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. InterContinental Hotels is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IHG's full-year earnings has moved 0.3% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, IHG has returned 13.7% so far this year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have lost an average of 8.2%. This shows that InterContinental Hotels is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Gray Media (GTN - Free Report) . The stock is up 0.8% year-to-date.

In Gray Media's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 29.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, InterContinental Hotels belongs to the Hotels and Motels industry, a group that includes 15 individual companies and currently sits at #187 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 7.7% so far this year, meaning that IHG is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Gray Media falls under the Broadcast Radio and Television industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #80. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -10.2%.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to InterContinental Hotels and Gray Media as they could maintain their solid performance.

Published in