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Is American Airlines (AAL) Stock Outpacing Its Transportation Peers This Year?

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The Transportation group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. American Airlines (AAL - 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Transportation sector should help us answer this question.

American Airlines is a member of our Transportation group, which includes 136 different companies and currently sits at #6 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 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. American Airlines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAL's full-year earnings has moved 19.7% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that AAL has returned about 6.8% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Transportation group have lost about 15.5% on average. As we can see, American Airlines is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Transportation stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Air FranceKLM SA (AFLYY - Free Report) . The stock is up 5.9% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Air FranceKLM SA's current year EPS has increased 146.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, American Airlines belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry, a group that includes 29 individual companies and currently sits at #56 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 18.8% so far this year, so AAL is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Air FranceKLM SA is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Transportation stocks should continue to track American Airlines and Air FranceKLM SA. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.


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