For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Knot Offshore (KNOP) 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? 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.

Knot Offshore is one of 131 individual stocks in the Transportation sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #15 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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. Knot Offshore is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for KNOP's full-year earnings has moved 6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that KNOP has returned about 13.9% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Transportation sector has returned an average of -3.5% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Knot Offshore is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Freightcar America (RAIL). The stock has returned 14% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Freightcar America's current year EPS has increased 3.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Knot Offshore is a member of the Transportation - Shipping industry, which includes 42 individual companies and currently sits at #233 in the Zacks Industry Rank.

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