The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. K12 (LRN) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

K12 is one of 270 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #5 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. K12 is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LRN's full-year earnings has moved 31.9% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that LRN has returned about 82.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of 14.8% on a year-to-date basis. This means that K12 is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Consumer Discretionary stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is H&R Block (HRB). The stock has returned 23.2% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, H&R Block's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, K12 belongs to the Schools industry, which includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #13 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 7.4% so far this year, meaning that LRN is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

H&R Block, however, belongs to the Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 11-stock industry is ranked #78. The industry has moved +13.3% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to K12 and H&R Block as they could maintain their solid performance.

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