Investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (IMBBY) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Imperial Tobacco Group PLC is one of 178 companies in the Consumer Staples group. The Consumer Staples group currently sits at #13 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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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. Imperial Tobacco Group PLC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for IMBBY's full-year earnings has moved 2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that IMBBY has returned about 22.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Consumer Staples group have gained about 6% on average. This means that Imperial Tobacco Group PLC is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

British American Tobacco (BTI) is another Consumer Staples stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 30.6%.

For British American Tobacco, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC belongs to the Tobacco industry, a group that includes 6 individual companies and currently sits at #29 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 38.8% so far this year, meaning that IMBBY is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns. British American Tobacco is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to track Imperial Tobacco Group PLC and British American Tobacco. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (IMBBY):Free Stock Analysis Report

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British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BTI):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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