The Industrial Products group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Ashtead Group PLC (ASHTY) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Industrial Products peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Ashtead Group PLC is a member of our Industrial Products group, which includes 201 different companies and currently sits at #14 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. Ashtead Group PLC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ASHTY's full-year earnings has moved 0.9% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that ASHTY has returned about 0.2% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Industrial Products companies have returned an average of -1.8%. This means that Ashtead Group PLC is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Industrial Products stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is DMC Global (BOOM). The stock is up 20.5% year-to-date.

In DMC Global's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 16.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Ashtead Group PLC belongs to the Industrial Services industry, which includes 20 individual stocks and currently sits at #141 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 3.8% this year, meaning that ASHTY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. DMC Global is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to Ashtead Group PLC and DMC Global 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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