For those looking to find strong Construction stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Dycom Industries (DY) 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.
Dycom Industries is one of 93 individual stocks in the Construction sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #11 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.
The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Dycom Industries is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DY's full-year earnings has moved 19.7% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Our latest available data shows that DY has returned about 22.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Construction sector has returned an average of 11.2% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Dycom Industries is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Construction sector, United Rentals (URI), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 32.4%.
Over the past three months, United Rentals' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Dycom Industries belongs to the Building Products - Heavy Construction industry, a group that includes 9 individual stocks and currently sits at #38 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 24.8% so far this year, so DY is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
In contrast, United Rentals falls under the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this industry has 34 stocks and is ranked #173. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +3.5%.
Investors interested in the Construction sector may want to keep a close eye on Dycom Industries and United Rentals as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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Dycom Industries, Inc. (DY): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).