Are Aerospace Stocks Lagging Leonardo DRS, Inc. (DRS) This Year?

The Aerospace group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Leonardo DRS, Inc. (DRS) 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.

Leonardo DRS, Inc. is one of 76 individual stocks in the Aerospace sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 in 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 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. Leonardo DRS, Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DRS' full-year earnings has moved 8.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, DRS has returned 34.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of 6.2% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Leonardo DRS, Inc. is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another stock in the Aerospace sector, Outdoor Holding Company (POWW), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 27.5%.

Over the past three months, Outdoor Holding Company's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 80%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Leonardo DRS, Inc. belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, a group that includes 36 individual companies and currently sits at #61 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 8.8% this year, meaning that DRS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Outdoor Holding Company is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to Leonardo DRS, Inc. and Outdoor Holding Company as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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