Are Transportation Stocks Lagging Aercap (AER) 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 AerCap (AER) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

AerCap is one of 122 companies in the Transportation group. The Transportation group currently sits at #9 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. AerCap is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AER's full-year earnings has moved 9.8% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, AER has gained about 20.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Transportation group have lost about 6.1% on average. This means that AerCap is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Transportation stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is DHL Group Sponsored ADR (DHLGY). The stock is up 29.9% year-to-date.

For DHL Group Sponsored ADR, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, AerCap belongs to the Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry, a group that includes 10 individual stocks and currently sits at #74 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 5.4% so far this year, so AER is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

DHL Group Sponsored ADR, however, belongs to the Transportation - Services industry. Currently, this 23-stock industry is ranked #142. The industry has moved -1.7% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Transportation sector may want to keep a close eye on AerCap and DHL Group Sponsored ADR 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