The Consumer Discretionary group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Gildan Activewear (GIL) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

Gildan Activewear is a member of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group includes 272 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #6. 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 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. Gildan Activewear is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GIL's full-year earnings has moved 1.8% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, GIL has moved about 42.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of 11.5% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Gildan Activewear is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Snap-On (SNA) is another Consumer Discretionary stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 17.1%.

For Snap-On, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Gildan Activewear belongs to the Textile - Apparel industry, a group that includes 20 individual companies and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 7.6% so far this year, so GIL is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Snap-On falls under the Tools - Handheld industry. Currently, this industry has 3 stocks and is ranked #16. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +4.6%.

Investors with an interest in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to track Gildan Activewear and Snap-On. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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