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 Kimberly-Clark (KMB) 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.

Kimberly-Clark is one of 183 companies in the Consumer Staples group. The Consumer Staples group currently sits at #9 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. Kimberly-Clark is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for KMB's full-year earnings has moved 2.6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, KMB has returned 17% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Staples sector has returned an average of 6.2% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Kimberly-Clark is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Vital Farms (VITL). The stock is up 153.1% year-to-date.

For Vital Farms, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 15.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Kimberly-Clark belongs to the Consumer Products - Staples industry, a group that includes 27 individual stocks and currently sits at #94 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 2.6% this year, meaning that KMB is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Vital Farms belongs to the Food - Miscellaneous industry. This 46-stock industry is currently ranked #68. The industry has moved +0.9% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to Kimberly-Clark and Vital Farms as they could maintain their solid performance.

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