The Aerospace group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Heico Corporation (HEI) 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.
Heico Corporation is one of 67 individual stocks in the Aerospace sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 in 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 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. Heico Corporation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HEI's full-year earnings has moved 3.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Based on the latest available data, HEI has gained about 2.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of 2.2% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Heico Corporation is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Howmet (HWM) is another Aerospace stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 21.6%.
For Howmet, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 11.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Heico Corporation belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, which includes 37 individual stocks and currently sits at #48 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 14.5% this year, meaning that HEI is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
Howmet, however, belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry. Currently, this 29-stock industry is ranked #93. The industry has moved -2.3% so far this year.
Investors interested in the Aerospace sector may want to keep a close eye on Heico Corporation and Howmet as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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Heico Corporation (HEI): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).