Investors interested in Construction stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Argan (AGX) 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.
Argan is one of 88 individual stocks in the Construction sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #15 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
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. Argan is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AGX's full-year earnings has moved 12.3% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Our latest available data shows that AGX has returned about 112.2% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Construction stocks have gained an average of 9.6%. As we can see, Argan is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Construction sector, Simpson Manufacturing (SSD), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 12.7%.
The consensus estimate for Simpson Manufacturing's current year EPS has increased 2.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Argan belongs to the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 33 individual stocks and currently sits at #161 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 1.9% this year, meaning that AGX is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Simpson Manufacturing is also part of the same industry.
Argan and Simpson Manufacturing could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).