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The Consumer Staples group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Matthews International (MATW) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Matthews International is one of 181 companies in the Consumer Staples group. The Consumer Staples group currently sits at #10 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
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. Matthews International is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MATW's full-year earnings has moved 3.6% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
According to our latest data, MATW has moved about 12.1% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Staples group have lost about 2.6% on average. As we can see, Matthews International is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Premier Foods PLC. (PRRFY) is another Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 5%.
In Premier Foods PLC.'s case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Matthews International belongs to the Funeral Services industry, a group that includes 3 individual stocks and currently sits at #26 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 12.9% this year, meaning that MATW is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
Premier Foods PLC. however, belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 43-stock industry is ranked #200. The industry has moved -9.1% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to Matthews International and Premier Foods PLC. as they could maintain their solid performance.
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