Are Retail-Wholesale Stocks Lagging Next (NXGPY) This Year?

The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Next PLC (NXGPY) one of those stocks right now? 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.

Next PLC is one of 195 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #9 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. Next PLC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NXGPY's full-year earnings has moved 2.9% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that NXGPY has returned about 45.3% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have gained an average of 9.1%. This means that Next PLC 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 Boot Barn (BOOT). The stock is up 21.1% year-to-date.

For Boot Barn, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Next PLC belongs to the Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry, a group that includes 38 individual stocks and currently sits at #52 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 17.6% so far this year, meaning that NXGPY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Boot Barn is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to Next PLC and Boot Barn as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

Zacks Investment Research

Source Zacks-com