Investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has New York Times Co. (NYT) 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.

New York Times Co. is a member of the Consumer Staples sector. This group includes 181 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #13. 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 model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. New York Times Co. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NYT's full-year earnings has moved 0.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that NYT has returned about 0.1% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Consumer Staples companies have returned an average of -4.4%. This means that New York Times Co. is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Consumer Staples stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is United Natural Foods (UNFI). The stock has returned 3.4% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, United Natural Foods' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 19.2%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, New York Times Co. is a member of the Publishing - Newspapers industry, which includes 2 individual companies and currently sits at #218 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 9.5% so far this year, so NYT is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

On the other hand, United Natural Foods belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry. This 43-stock industry is currently ranked #203. The industry has moved -11.3% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to New York Times Co. and United Natural Foods as they could maintain their solid performance.

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