For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Alaska Air Group (ALK) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Transportation peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Alaska Air Group is one of 131 individual stocks in the Transportation sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #14 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. Alaska Air Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALK's full-year earnings has moved 11.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that ALK has returned about 9.8% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of 1.6%. As we can see, Alaska Air Group is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Transportation stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (ICAGY). The stock is up 12.2% year-to-date.

For International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Alaska Air Group belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry, a group that includes 28 individual companies and currently sits at #37 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 9.7% so far this year, so ALK is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. International Consolidated Airlines Group SA is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to Alaska Air Group and International Consolidated Airlines Group SA as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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