Is Ross Stores (ROST) Outperforming Other Retail-Wholesale Stocks This Year?

Investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Ross Stores (ROST) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.Ross Stores is one of 189 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #11 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.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. Ross Stores is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ROST's full-year earnings has moved 5.7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.Based on the most recent data, ROST has returned 19.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Retail-Wholesale group have lost about 3.3% on average. This means that Ross Stores is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.Another stock in the Retail-Wholesale sector, Next PLC (NXGPY), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 9.8%.For Next PLC, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).To break things down more, Ross Stores belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, a group that includes 7 individual companies and currently sits at #43 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 9.6% so far this year, so ROST is performing better in this area. On the other hand, Next PLC belongs to the Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry. This 40-stock industry is currently ranked #77. The industry has moved -5.8% year to date.Investors interested in the Retail-Wholesale sector may want to keep a close eye on Ross Stores and Next PLC as they attempt to continue their solid performance.Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is HereThe AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.See Stocks Now >>This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks