The Transportation group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Delta Air Lines (DAL) 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 Transportation sector should help us answer this question.
Delta Air Lines is one of 110 individual stocks in the Transportation sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 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. Delta Air Lines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DAL's full-year earnings has moved 31.8% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that DAL has returned about 24.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Transportation sector has returned an average of 17.1% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Delta Air Lines is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Another stock in the Transportation sector, Allegiant Travel (ALGT), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 25.4%.
In Allegiant Travel's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 67.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Delta Air Lines belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry, a group that includes 28 individual stocks and currently sits at #84 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 3.6% so far this year, meaning that DAL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Allegiant Travel is also part of the same industry.
Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to Delta Air Lines and Allegiant Travel as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).