For those looking to find strong Construction stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Construction sector should help us answer this question.
Louisiana-Pacific is a member of the Construction sector. This group includes 87 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #13. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
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. Louisiana-Pacific is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LPX's full-year earnings has moved 4.6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, LPX has gained about 10.3% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Construction sector has returned an average of 2% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Louisiana-Pacific is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is VSE (VSEC). The stock is up 12% year-to-date.
For VSE, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Louisiana-Pacific belongs to the Building Products - Wood industry, a group that includes 9 individual stocks and currently sits at #35 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 9% so far this year, so LPX is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
VSE, however, belongs to the Engineering - R and D Services industry. Currently, this 17-stock industry is ranked #147. The industry has moved -5% so far this year.
Investors with an interest in Construction stocks should continue to track Louisiana-Pacific and VSE. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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