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Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Retail-Wholesale peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is one of 202 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #10 within 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 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. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CBRL's full-year earnings has moved 9.1% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that CBRL has returned about 8.3% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 6.3%. This means that Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Sprouts Farmers (SFM - Free Report) . The stock is up 17.3% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Sprouts Farmers' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.9%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry, which includes 39 individual stocks and currently sits at #188 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 3.9% this year, meaning that CBRL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Sprouts Farmers belongs to the Food - Natural Foods Products industry. This 6-stock industry is currently ranked #31. The industry has moved +15.6% year to date.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Sprouts Farmers could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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