The Transportation group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Euroseas Ltd. (ESEA) 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.

Euroseas Ltd. is a member of the Transportation sector. This group includes 135 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #6. 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 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. Euroseas Ltd. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ESEA's full-year earnings has moved 55.3% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, ESEA has gained about 32.3% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Transportation group have lost about 0.5% on average. As we can see, Euroseas Ltd. is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Transportation sector, SkyWest (SKYW), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 94.1%.

For SkyWest, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Euroseas Ltd. belongs to the Transportation - Shipping industry, a group that includes 43 individual companies and currently sits at #163 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 15.9% so far this year, so ESEA is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, SkyWest belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry. This 31-stock industry is currently ranked #11. The industry has moved +26.6% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to Euroseas Ltd. and SkyWest as they could maintain their solid performance.

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