For those looking to find strong Consumer Staples stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Unilever PLC (UL) 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 Consumer Staples sector should help us answer this question.

Unilever PLC is a member of our Consumer Staples group, which includes 183 different companies and currently sits at #13 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Unilever PLC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for UL's full-year earnings has moved 6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, UL has gained about 27.3% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Staples sector has returned an average of 5.4% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Unilever PLC is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Vital Farms (VITL) is another Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 125.4%.

For Vital Farms, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 13% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Unilever PLC belongs to the Soap and Cleaning Materials industry, which includes 7 individual stocks and currently sits at #13 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 17.7% so far this year, so UL is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Vital Farms falls under the Food - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this industry has 46 stocks and is ranked #139. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -0.5%.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to Unilever PLC and Vital Farms as they could maintain their solid performance.

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