For those looking to find strong Aerospace stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Mercury Systems (MRCY) 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.

Mercury Systems is one of 51 companies in the Aerospace group. The Aerospace group currently sits at #4 within 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 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. Mercury Systems is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MRCY's full-year earnings has moved 52.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, MRCY has gained about 3.5% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of -0.2% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Mercury Systems is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Aerospace stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Woodward (WWD). The stock is up 9.9% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Woodward's current year EPS has increased 2.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Mercury Systems belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, which includes 26 individual stocks and currently sits at #72 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 1.9% so far this year, so MRCY is performing better in this area. Woodward is also part of the same industry.

Investors interested in the Aerospace sector may want to keep a close eye on Mercury Systems and Woodward as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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