Are Aerospace Stocks Lagging CurtissWright (CW) This Year?

Investors interested in Aerospace stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Curtiss-Wright (CW) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Curtiss-Wright is a member of the Aerospace sector. This group includes 54 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #1. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Curtiss-Wright is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CW's full-year earnings has moved 3.2% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, CW has gained about 34.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of 20.6% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Curtiss-Wright is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Aerospace stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Huntington Ingalls (HII). The stock has returned 25.5% year-to-date.

For Huntington Ingalls, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Curtiss-Wright is a member of the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, which includes 27 individual companies and currently sits at #53 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 22% so far this year, meaning that CW is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Huntington Ingalls belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry. This 26-stock industry is currently ranked #40. The industry has moved +20.1% year to date.

Curtiss-Wright and Huntington Ingalls could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Aerospace 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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