Investors interested in Aerospace stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Mercury Systems (MRCY) 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Aerospace sector should help us answer this question.

Mercury Systems is a member of our Aerospace group, which includes 51 different companies and currently sits at #2 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 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. Mercury Systems is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MRCY's full-year earnings has moved 71.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, MRCY has moved about 7.3% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Aerospace group have gained about 0.1% on average. This shows that Mercury Systems is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Aerospace stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is StandardAero, Inc. (SARO). The stock is up 17% year-to-date.

In StandardAero, Inc.'s case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Mercury Systems belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, which includes 26 individual stocks and currently sits at #39 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 0.2% so far this year, meaning that MRCY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, StandardAero, Inc. belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry. This 24-stock industry is currently ranked #132. The industry has moved +0.2% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to Mercury Systems and StandardAero, Inc. 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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