For those looking to find strong Retail-Wholesale stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has MercadoLibre (MELI) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

MercadoLibre is a member of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group includes 210 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #9. 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 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. MercadoLibre is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MELI's full-year earnings has moved 6.4% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that MELI has returned about 14.4% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Retail-Wholesale stocks have lost an average of 6.5%. As we can see, MercadoLibre is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Portillo's Inc. (PTLO) is another Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 20.6%.

Over the past three months, Portillo's Inc.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 13%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, MercadoLibre belongs to the Internet - Commerce industry, a group that includes 37 individual stocks and currently sits at #54 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 9.4% so far this year, so MELI is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Portillo's Inc. falls under the Retail - Restaurants industry. Currently, this industry has 39 stocks and is ranked #172. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +0.9%.

Going forward, investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to MercadoLibre and Portillo's Inc. as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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