For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has The TJX Companies (TJX Quick QuoteTJX - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

The TJX Companies is one of 223 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #4 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 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. TJX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for TJX's full-year earnings has moved 1.01% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, TJX has returned 33.15% so far this year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have gained an average of 21.82%. This means that The TJX Companies is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, TJX belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, a group that includes 10 individual stocks and currently sits at #57 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 44.25% so far this year, so TJX is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

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