The Aerospace group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Heico Corporation (HEI) 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.

Heico Corporation is one of 51 individual stocks in the Aerospace sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in 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 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. Heico Corporation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HEI's full-year earnings has moved 1.9% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that HEI has returned about 7.9% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of -0.3% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Heico Corporation is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Aerospace sector, Howmet (HWM), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 11.8%.

For Howmet, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Heico Corporation belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, a group that includes 26 individual stocks and currently sits at #35 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 0.7% this year, meaning that HEI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Howmet, however, belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry. Currently, this 24-stock industry is ranked #127. The industry has moved -0.1% so far this year.

Heico Corporation and Howmet could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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

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