Investors focused on the Consumer Staples space have likely heard of The Estee Lauder Companies (EL Quick QuoteEL - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

The Estee Lauder Companies is one of 166 individual stocks in the Consumer Staples sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #5 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. EL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EL's full-year earnings has moved 4.36% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, EL has returned 26.27% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Staples group have gained about 10.93% on average. This means that The Estee Lauder Companies is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, EL belongs to the Cosmetics industry, a group that includes 13 individual companies and currently sits at #107 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 24.87% so far this year, so EL is performing better in this area.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to EL as it looks to continue its solid performance.