For those looking to find strong Business Services stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Business Services sector should help us answer this question.

Shift4 Payments is a member of our Business Services group, which includes 312 different companies and currently sits at #5 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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. Shift4 Payments is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FOUR's full-year earnings has moved 4.1% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, FOUR has gained about 19.2% so far this year. At the same time, Business Services stocks have gained an average of 14.6%. As we can see, Shift4 Payments is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Clean Harbors (CLH) is another Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 38.5%.

For Clean Harbors, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Shift4 Payments belongs to the Financial Transaction Services industry, a group that includes 43 individual companies and currently sits at #74 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 9.2% this year, meaning that FOUR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Clean Harbors falls under the Waste Removal Services industry. Currently, this industry has 19 stocks and is ranked #173. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +17.4%.

Shift4 Payments and Clean Harbors could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.