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

Embraer is a member of the Aerospace sector. This group includes 53 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #3. 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 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. Embraer is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ERJ's full-year earnings has moved 11.7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, ERJ has moved about 12.6% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of 1% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Embraer is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Aerospace stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Heico Corporation (HEI). The stock is up 5.1% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Heico Corporation's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Embraer belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry, a group that includes 25 individual companies and currently sits at #163 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 2.4% so far this year, so ERJ is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Heico Corporation, however, belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry. Currently, this 27-stock industry is ranked #23. The industry has moved -3.2% so far this year.

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

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Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica (ERJ) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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