For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is United Airlines (UAL) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

United Airlines is one of 135 companies in the Transportation group. The Transportation group currently sits at #11 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. United Airlines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for UAL's full-year earnings has moved 5.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that UAL has returned about 130.2% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of -0.6%. As we can see, United Airlines is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WAB). The stock has returned 56.2% year-to-date.

In Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, United Airlines belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry, a group that includes 31 individual stocks and currently sits at #31 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 30.7% so far this year, meaning that UAL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies falls under the Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry. Currently, this industry has 9 stocks and is ranked #58. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +45.2%.

Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to United Airlines and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies as they could maintain their solid performance.

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