The Retail-Wholesale group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Big Lots (BIG) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.Big Lots is one of 204 individual stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 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 proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. BIG is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BIG's full-year earnings has moved 24.83% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.Based on the most recent data, BIG has returned 61.66% so far this year. In comparison, Retail-Wholesale companies have returned an average of 32.80%. This means that Big Lots is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.Looking more specifically, BIG belongs to the Retail - Discount Stores industry, a group that includes 8 individual stocks and currently sits at #96 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.70% so far this year, so BIG is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.Investors in the Retail-Wholesale sector will want to keep a close eye on BIG as it attempts to continue its solid performance.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Big Lots, Inc. (BIG): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research