Is Kontoor Brands (KTB) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Discretionary Peers This Year?

The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Kontoor Brands (KTB) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

Kontoor Brands is one of 258 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #7 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 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. Kontoor Brands is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KTB's full-year earnings has moved 11.6% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, KTB has gained about 19.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of -4.3% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Kontoor Brands is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Laureate Education (LAUR). The stock is up 1.7% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Laureate Education's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Kontoor Brands belongs to the Textile - Apparel industry, a group that includes 21 individual stocks and currently sits at #76 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 0.6% so far this year, meaning that KTB is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Laureate Education, however, belongs to the Schools industry. Currently, this 18-stock industry is ranked #20. The industry has moved +2% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Consumer Discretionary sector may want to keep a close eye on Kontoor Brands and Laureate Education as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

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