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Are Transportation Stocks Lagging Delta Air Lines (DAL) This Year?

By Zacks Equity Research | October 16, 2025, 9:40 AM

The Transportation group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Delta Air Lines (DAL) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Delta Air Lines is a member of the Transportation sector. This group includes 122 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 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. Delta Air Lines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DAL's full-year earnings has moved 6.3% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, DAL has returned 2% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Transportation sector has returned an average of -5% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Delta Air Lines is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Global Ship Lease (GSL). The stock has returned 30.1% year-to-date.

In Global Ship Lease's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 6.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Delta Air Lines belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry, a group that includes 26 individual stocks and currently sits at #157 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 9.3% so far this year, so DAL is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

Global Ship Lease, however, belongs to the Transportation - Shipping industry. Currently, this 39-stock industry is ranked #96. The industry has moved 0% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Transportation sector may want to keep a close eye on Delta Air Lines and Global Ship Lease as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Global Ship Lease, Inc. (GSL): Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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