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 Brinker International (EAT) 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 Retail-Wholesale sector should help us answer this question.

Brinker International is a member of our Retail-Wholesale group, which includes 214 different companies and currently sits at #12 in 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. Brinker International is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EAT's full-year earnings has moved 40.5% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, EAT has gained about 16.5% so far this year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of -1.7%. This shows that Brinker International is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Retail-Wholesale stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Farmer Brothers (FARM). The stock is up 30.6% year-to-date.

For Farmer Brothers, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 40.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Brinker International belongs to the Retail - Restaurants industry, a group that includes 39 individual stocks and currently sits at #165 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 2.9% so far this year, so EAT is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, Farmer Brothers belongs to the Food - Natural Foods Products industry. This 6-stock industry is currently ranked #78. The industry has moved +4.5% year to date.

Brinker International and Farmer Brothers could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Retail-Wholesale stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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

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