The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. La-Z-Boy (LZB) 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.

La-Z-Boy 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 includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. La-Z-Boy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LZB's full-year earnings has moved 0.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, LZB has returned 24% so far this year. In comparison, Consumer Discretionary companies have returned an average of 15.4%. This shows that La-Z-Boy is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ). The stock is up 47.6% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, BJ's Wholesale Club's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.2%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, La-Z-Boy belongs to the Furniture industry, which includes 9 individual stocks and currently sits at #145 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 31.4% this year, meaning that LZB is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, BJ's Wholesale Club falls under the Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this industry has 11 stocks and is ranked #69. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +14.4%.

La-Z-Boy and BJ's Wholesale Club 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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