For those looking to find strong Aerospace stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Astronics Corporation (ATRO) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Aerospace sector should help us answer this question.
Astronics Corporation is one of 77 companies in the Aerospace group. The Aerospace group currently sits at #3 within 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Astronics Corporation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATRO's full-year earnings has moved 20.2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Our latest available data shows that ATRO has returned about 52.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Aerospace group have lost about 1.6% on average. This shows that Astronics Corporation is outperforming its peers so far this year.
RTX (RTX) is another Aerospace stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 5.6%.
In RTX's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Astronics Corporation belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, which includes 37 individual stocks and currently sits at #86 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 4.6% so far this year, so ATRO is performing better in this area.
RTX, however, belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry. Currently, this 39-stock industry is ranked #98. The industry has moved -4.1% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to Astronics Corporation and RTX as they could maintain their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).