For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Charter Communications (CHTR) 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.

Charter Communications is one of 265 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #8 in 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 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. Charter Communications is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CHTR's full-year earnings has moved 9.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that CHTR has returned about 6.7% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Consumer Discretionary stocks have gained an average of 4%. This shows that Charter Communications is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Consumer Discretionary stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Live Nation (LYV). The stock has returned 19.4% year-to-date.

In Live Nation's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 29% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Charter Communications belongs to the Cable Television industry, a group that includes 8 individual stocks and currently sits at #155 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 0.8% so far this year, meaning that CHTR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Live Nation falls under the Film and Television Production and Distribution industry. Currently, this industry has 9 stocks and is ranked #31. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +11.8%.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to Charter Communications and Live Nation as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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