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Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging Amazon.com (AMZN) 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. Has Amazon (AMZN - 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.

Amazon is a member of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group includes 190 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMZN's full-year earnings has moved 4.3% 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 12% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 0.9%. This means that Amazon is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is BJ's Restaurants (BJRI - Free Report) . The stock is up 52% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, BJ's Restaurants' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Amazon belongs to the Internet - Commerce industry, a group that includes 35 individual stocks and currently sits at #95 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 4.4% so far this year, so AMZN is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, BJ's Restaurants belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry. This 36-stock industry is currently ranked #93. The industry has moved -4.9% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Amazon and BJ's Restaurants as they could maintain their solid performance.

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