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Has Quanex Building Products (NX) Outpaced Other Construction Stocks This Year?

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The Construction group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Quanex Building Products (NX - Free Report) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Quanex Building Products is one of 101 individual stocks in the Construction sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #16 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. Quanex Building Products is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NX's full-year earnings has moved 21.8% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, NX has returned 3.6% so far this year. At the same time, Construction stocks have lost an average of 17.2%. This means that Quanex Building Products is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is United Rentals (URI - Free Report) . The stock is up 1.6% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, United Rentals' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.9%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Quanex Building Products is a member of the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 29 individual companies and currently sits at #92 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 14.6% so far this year, meaning that NX is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. United Rentals is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to Quanex Building Products and United Rentals as they could maintain their solid performance.


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