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

Carnival is one of 270 companies in the Consumer Discretionary group. The Consumer Discretionary group currently sits at #6 within 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 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. Carnival is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CCL's full-year earnings has moved 12.1% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, CCL has returned 32.6% so far this year. In comparison, Consumer Discretionary companies have returned an average of 11.3%. This means that Carnival is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Cinemark Holdings (CNK) is another Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 132.4%.

Over the past three months, Cinemark Holdings' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 48.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Carnival belongs to the Leisure and Recreation Services industry, a group that includes 31 individual companies and currently sits at #25 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 19.6% so far this year, meaning that CCL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Cinemark Holdings is also part of the same industry.

Carnival and Cinemark Holdings 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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