For those looking to find strong Aerospace stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Howmet (HWM) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Howmet is a member of our Aerospace group, which includes 53 different companies and currently sits at #3 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 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. Howmet is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HWM's full-year earnings has moved 2.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, HWM has returned 13.6% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Aerospace group have lost about 0.5% on average. This shows that Howmet is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Aerospace sector, Triumph Group (TGI), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 31.7%.

In Triumph Group's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 4.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Howmet belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry, a group that includes 25 individual stocks and currently sits at #167 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 0.9% this year, meaning that HWM is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Triumph Group falls under the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry. Currently, this industry has 27 stocks and is ranked #23. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -4.7%.

Going forward, investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to Howmet and Triumph Group as they could maintain their solid performance.

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Howmet Aerospace Inc. (HWM) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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