For those looking to find strong Construction stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Gibraltar Industries (ROCK) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Gibraltar Industries is a member of our Construction group, which includes 87 different companies and currently sits at #16 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 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. Gibraltar Industries is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ROCK's full-year earnings has moved 1% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Based on the latest available data, ROCK has gained about 13.8% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Construction sector has returned an average of -5.3% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Gibraltar Industries is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Another Construction stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Watsco (WSO). The stock has returned 5.2% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Watsco's current year EPS has increased 1.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Gibraltar Industries belongs to the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 27 individual companies and currently sits at #179 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 0.6% so far this year, so ROCK is performing better in this area.
In contrast, Watsco falls under the Building Products - Air Conditioner and Heating industry. Currently, this industry has 6 stocks and is ranked #35. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -48%.
Investors interested in the Construction sector may want to keep a close eye on Gibraltar Industries and Watsco as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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