Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging Escalade (ESCA) This Year?

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Escalade (ESCA - 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 Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

Escalade is a member of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group includes 259 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #11. 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. Escalade is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ESCA's full-year earnings has moved 7.1% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that ESCA has returned about 55.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary group have lost about 8.2% on average. This means that Escalade is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Gray Media (GTN - Free Report) is another Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 20%.

The consensus estimate for Gray Media's current year EPS has increased 1.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Escalade belongs to the Leisure and Recreation Products industry, a group that includes 24 individual stocks and currently sits at #93 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 8% so far this year, meaning that ESCA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Gray Media belongs to the Broadcast Radio and Television industry. This 15-stock industry is currently ranked #98. The industry has moved -30.6% year to date.

Escalade and Gray Media could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

Published in