Are Transportation Stocks Lagging Euroseas (ESEA) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Euroseas Ltd. (ESEA) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Euroseas Ltd. is a member of our Transportation group, which includes 122 different companies and currently sits at #14 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 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. Euroseas Ltd. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ESEA's full-year earnings has moved 6% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, ESEA has moved about 23.7% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of -7.9%. This means that Euroseas Ltd. is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Transportation stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WAB). The stock is up 5.5% year-to-date.

In Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 5.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Euroseas Ltd. belongs to the Transportation - Shipping industry, a group that includes 36 individual stocks and currently sits at #180 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 1.4% so far this year, so ESEA is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies belongs to the Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry. This 10-stock industry is currently ranked #49. The industry has moved +1.5% year to date.

Euroseas Ltd. and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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

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