Investors focused on the Retail-Wholesale space have likely heard of Lithia Motors (LAD Quick QuoteLAD - 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.

Lithia Motors is one of 225 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #3 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. LAD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LAD's full-year earnings has moved 2.49% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, LAD has returned 67.94% so far this year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have gained an average of 21.25%. This means that Lithia Motors is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Breaking things down more, LAD is a member of the Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry, which includes 9 individual companies and currently sits at #62 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 40.49% this year, meaning that LAD is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Retail-Wholesale sector will want to keep a close eye on LAD as it attempts to continue its solid performance.