Has Escalade (ESCA) Outpaced Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Escalade (ESCA) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? 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.

Escalade is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 260 different companies and currently sits at #8 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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. Escalade is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ESCA's full-year earnings has moved 44.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, ESCA has gained about 56.3% so far this year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have lost an average of 6.1%. This means that Escalade is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Newsmax (NMAX). The stock is up 39.1% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Newsmax's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 56.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Escalade belongs to the Leisure and Recreation Products industry, which includes 24 individual stocks and currently sits at #67 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 12% so far this year, so ESCA is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Newsmax falls under the Broadcast Radio and Television industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #85. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -11%.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to Escalade and Newsmax as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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