Is Fluor (FLR) Stock Outpacing Its Construction Peers This Year?

For those looking to find strong Construction stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Fluor (FLR) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Fluor is one of 92 companies in the Construction group. The Construction group currently sits at #8 within 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 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. Fluor is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FLR's full-year earnings has moved 0.5% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, FLR has moved about 42.8% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Construction sector has returned an average of 1.3% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Fluor is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another stock in the Construction sector, James Hardie (JHX), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 37.2%.

For James Hardie, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Fluor belongs to the Engineering - R and D Services industry, a group that includes 23 individual companies and currently sits at #98 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 15.9% so far this year, so FLR is performing better in this area.

James Hardie, however, belongs to the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 34-stock industry is ranked #163. The industry has moved -4.9% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Construction sector may want to keep a close eye on Fluor and James Hardie as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

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