Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) 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 Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Retail-Wholesale peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Cheesecake Factory is a member of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group includes 190 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. 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 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).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAKE's full-year earnings has moved 13% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, CAKE has gained about 112.4% so far this year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of -0.3%. This means that Cheesecake Factory is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Itochu Corp. (ITOCY). The stock is up 17% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Itochu Corp.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Cheesecake Factory belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry, a group that includes 36 individual companies and currently sits at #164 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 5.9% this year, meaning that CAKE is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Itochu Corp., however, belongs to the Retail - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 14-stock industry is ranked #103. The industry has moved -15.3% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Retail-Wholesale sector may want to keep a close eye on Cheesecake Factory and Itochu Corp. 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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