For those looking to find strong Consumer Staples stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Danone (DANOY) 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 Staples sector should help us answer this question.

Danone is one of 177 companies in the Consumer Staples group. The Consumer Staples group currently sits at #8 within 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. Danone is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DANOY's full-year earnings has moved 6.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, DANOY has gained about 25.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Staples sector has returned an average of 7.3% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Danone is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is HF FOODS GROUP INC. (HFFG). The stock is up 24.3% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for HF FOODS GROUP INC.'s current year EPS has increased 16.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Danone is a member of the Food - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 41 individual companies and currently sits at #148 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 0.9% this year, meaning that DANOY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. HF FOODS GROUP INC. is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to track Danone and HF FOODS GROUP INC. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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

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