The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Crane NXT (CXT) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Business Services sector should help us answer this question.
Crane NXT is one of 245 individual stocks in the Business Services sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 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 is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Crane NXT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CXT's full-year earnings has moved 2% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that CXT has returned about 8.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Business Services group have lost about 12.9% on average. As we can see, Crane NXT is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Business Services sector, ICF International (ICFI), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 2.9%.
For ICF International, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Crane NXT belongs to the Technology Services industry, which includes 123 individual stocks and currently sits at #164 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 17.1% this year, meaning that CXT is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, ICF International belongs to the Government Services industry. This 3-stock industry is currently ranked #22. The industry has moved +8.9% year to date.
Crane NXT and ICF International could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).