The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Retail-Wholesale sector should help us answer this question.

Cheesecake Factory is one of 187 companies in the Retail-Wholesale group. The Retail-Wholesale group currently sits at #5 within 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 is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Cheesecake Factory is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

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

According to our latest data, CAKE has moved about 124.5% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 2.4%. This means that Cheesecake Factory is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Dillard's (DDS). The stock is up 2.5% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Dillard's' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 9.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Cheesecake Factory is a member of the Retail - Restaurants industry, which includes 36 individual companies and currently sits at #151 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 0.7% so far this year, so CAKE is performing better in this area.

Dillard's, however, belongs to the Retail - Regional Department Stores industry. Currently, this 4-stock industry is ranked #11. The industry has moved +0.9% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Cheesecake Factory and Dillard's as they could maintain their solid performance.

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The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE): Free Stock Analysis Report

 

Dillard's, Inc. (DDS): Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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