Is American Public Education (APEI) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Discretionary Peers This Year?

Investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. American Public Education (APEI) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

American Public Education is a member of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group includes 281 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #15. 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 proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. American Public Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEI's full-year earnings has moved 37.2% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that APEI has returned about 82.8% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have lost an average of 2.8%. This shows that American Public Education is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Consumer Discretionary sector, Funko-A (FNKO), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 24.7%.

Over the past three months, Funko-A's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 20.8%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, American Public Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 18 individual companies and currently sits at #75 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 2.3% so far this year, so APEI is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Funko-A belongs to the Consumer Products - Discretionary industry. This 25-stock industry is currently ranked #223. The industry has moved -1.4% year to date.

American Public Education and Funko-A could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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