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Is American Public Education (APEI) Outperforming Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. American Public Education (APEI - 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 Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

American Public Education is a member of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group includes 259 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #13. 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. American Public Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEI's full-year earnings has moved 1.5% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, APEI has returned 7.3% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary group have lost about 12.1% on average. This means that American Public Education is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Consumer Discretionary stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is ASICS Corporation Unsponsored ADR (ASCCY - Free Report) . The stock has returned 28.2% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, ASICS Corporation Unsponsored ADR's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 6.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, American Public Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 19 individual stocks and currently sits at #93 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 5.6% so far this year, meaning that APEI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, ASICS Corporation Unsponsored ADR belongs to the Leisure and Recreation Products industry. This 24-stock industry is currently ranked #96. The industry has moved -18.9% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to American Public Education and ASICS Corporation Unsponsored ADR as they could maintain their solid performance.

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