The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Laureate Education (LAUR) 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

Laureate Education is one of 270 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #6 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 proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Laureate Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LAUR's full-year earnings has moved 0.7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, LAUR has gained about 38.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of 14.5% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Laureate Education is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Grand Canyon Education (LOPE) is another Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 24.8%.

In Grand Canyon Education's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 0.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Laureate Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #12 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 7.4% so far this year, so LAUR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Grand Canyon Education is also part of the same industry.

Laureate Education and Grand Canyon Education 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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