Has Penn National Gaming (PENN) Outpaced Other Consumer Discretionary Stocks This Year?

Investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Penn National Gaming (PENN) 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? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of PENN and the rest of the Consumer Discretionary group's stocks.

Penn National Gaming is a member of our Consumer Discretionary group, which includes 237 different companies and currently sits at #12 in 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. PENN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PENN's full-year earnings has moved 60.54% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, PENN has gained about 82.32% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Discretionary group have lost about 4.41% on average. This means that Penn National Gaming is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Breaking things down more, PENN is a member of the Gaming industry, which includes 24 individual companies and currently sits at #118 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 16.90% so far this year, so PENN is performing better in this area.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to pay close attention to PENN as it looks to continue its solid performance.

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