Is Advance Auto Parts (AAP) Stock Outpacing Its Retail-Wholesale Peers This Year?

The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Advance Auto Parts (AAP) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Advance Auto Parts is a member of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group includes 204 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #11. 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 is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Advance Auto Parts is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAP's full-year earnings has moved 19.5% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, AAP has moved about 9.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Retail-Wholesale group have gained about 5.2% on average. This means that Advance Auto Parts is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Retail-Wholesale stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL). The stock has returned 26.5% year-to-date.

In Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 11.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Advance Auto Parts belongs to the Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry, which includes 7 individual stocks and currently sits at #92 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 13.3% this year, meaning that AAP is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry. This 39-stock industry is currently ranked #92. The industry has moved +2.3% year to date.

Advance Auto Parts and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 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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Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (AAP) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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