Is Air Lease (AL) Stock Outpacing Its Transportation Peers This Year?

The Transportation group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Air Lease (AL) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Transportation sector should help us answer this question.

Air Lease is a member of our Transportation group, which includes 122 different companies and currently sits at #10 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. Air Lease is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AL's full-year earnings has moved 3.8% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that AL has returned about 17.1% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Transportation sector has returned an average of -6.8% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Air Lease is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASR). The stock has returned 17.2% year-to-date.

For Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Air Lease belongs to the Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry, a group that includes 10 individual stocks and currently sits at #46 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 2.1% so far this year, so AL is performing better in this area.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, however, belongs to the Transportation - Services industry. Currently, this 23-stock industry is ranked #143. The industry has moved -3.4% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Transportation sector may want to keep a close eye on Air Lease and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

Zacks Investment Research