For those looking to find strong Consumer Staples stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Altria (MO) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Altria is a member of the Consumer Staples sector. This group includes 178 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #14. 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 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. Altria is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MO's full-year earnings has moved 0.9% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, MO has returned 10.5% so far this year. At the same time, Consumer Staples stocks have gained an average of 5%. This means that Altria is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another stock in the Consumer Staples sector, Carlsberg AS (CABGY), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 48.8%.

Over the past three months, Carlsberg AS' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Altria belongs to the Tobacco industry, which includes 7 individual stocks and currently sits at #65 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 39.3% so far this year, meaning that MO is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Carlsberg AS falls under the Beverages - Alcohol industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #146. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +2.1%.

Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to Altria and Carlsberg AS as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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