Are Business Services Stocks Lagging Barrett Business Services (BBSI) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Business Services stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Barrett Business Services (BBSI) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Barrett Business Services is one of 329 individual stocks in the Business Services sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #6 in 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 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. Barrett Business Services is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BBSI's full-year earnings has moved 3.7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that BBSI has returned about 20% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Business Services sector has returned an average of -19.7% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Barrett Business Services is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is CBIZ (CBZ). The stock is up 13.8% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for CBIZ's current year EPS has increased 3.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Barrett Business Services belongs to the Outsourcing industry, a group that includes 14 individual companies and currently sits at #55 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 1.6% this year, meaning that BBSI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, CBIZ falls under the Consulting Services industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #36. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -21.9%.

Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to Barrett Business Services and CBIZ as they could maintain their solid performance.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.