For those looking to find strong Consumer Staples stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Ingredion (INGR) one of those stocks right now? 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.

Ingredion is one of 184 companies in the Consumer Staples group. The Consumer Staples group currently sits at #14 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. Ingredion is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for INGR's full-year earnings has moved 6.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, INGR has moved about 38.4% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Consumer Staples companies have returned an average of 2.3%. This shows that Ingredion is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Consumer Staples stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is McCormick (MKC). The stock has returned 11.9% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, McCormick's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Ingredion belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 46 individual stocks and currently sits at #146 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 2.5% so far this year, so INGR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. McCormick is also part of the same industry.

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

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