Investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Whirlpool (WHR Quick QuoteWHR - 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.

Whirlpool is one of 241 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #10 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. WHR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for WHR's full-year earnings has moved 0.98% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, WHR has moved about 3.02% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary group have gained about 0.24% on average. As we can see, Whirlpool is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Breaking things down more, WHR is a member of the Household Appliances industry, which includes 5 individual companies and currently sits at #180 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 2.37% this year, meaning that WHR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Consumer Discretionary sector will want to keep a close eye on WHR as it attempts to continue its solid performance.