The Consumer Staples group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Danone (DANOY) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Consumer Staples peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Danone is one of 177 individual stocks in the Consumer Staples sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #13 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Danone is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DANOY's full-year earnings has moved 1.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, DANOY has moved about 18.5% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Consumer Staples stocks have gained an average of 7.9%. This means that Danone is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

HF FOODS GROUP INC. (HFFG) is another Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 24%.

For HF FOODS GROUP INC. the consensus EPS estimate for the current year 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 #178 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 1.7% so far 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 interested in the Consumer Staples sector may want to keep a close eye on Danone and HF FOODS GROUP INC. as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

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