For those looking to find strong Industrial Products stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Industrial Products sector should help us answer this question.
Applied Industrial Technologies is a member of the Industrial Products sector. This group includes 181 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #12. 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 proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Applied Industrial Technologies is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AIT's full-year earnings has moved 0.5% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
According to our latest data, AIT has moved about 30.1% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Industrial Products group have gained about 23.4% on average. This means that Applied Industrial Technologies is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Another Industrial Products stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is W.W. Grainger (GWW). The stock has returned 34.1% year-to-date.
For W.W. Grainger, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Applied Industrial Technologies belongs to the Manufacturing - General Industrial industry, a group that includes 41 individual stocks and currently sits at #80 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.8% so far this year, so AIT is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, W.W. Grainger falls under the Industrial Services industry. Currently, this industry has 16 stocks and is ranked #173. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +11.1%.
Going forward, investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to Applied Industrial Technologies and W.W. Grainger as they could maintain their solid performance.
Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge Gains
Quantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.
While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.
Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power .
Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. Now, he has keyed in on what could be "the next big thing" in quantum computing supremacy. Today, you have a rare chance to position your portfolio at the forefront of this opportunity.
See Top Quantum Stocks Now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (AIT): Free Stock Analysis Report
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).