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Is W.W. Grainger (GWW) Stock Outpacing Its Industrial Products Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Industrial Products stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is W.W. Grainger (GWW - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

W.W. Grainger is one of 217 companies in the Industrial Products group. The Industrial Products group currently sits at #1 within 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. W.W. Grainger is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GWW's full-year earnings has moved 8.6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, GWW has returned 19.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Industrial Products group have gained about 0.6% on average. This means that W.W. Grainger is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Alamo Group (ALG - Free Report) is another Industrial Products stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 27.7%.

Over the past three months, Alamo Group's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, W.W. Grainger belongs to the Industrial Services industry, a group that includes 23 individual stocks and currently sits at #20 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 16.3% so far this year, so GWW is performing better in this area.

Alamo Group, however, belongs to the Manufacturing - Farm Equipment industry. Currently, this 8-stock industry is ranked #37. The industry has moved -9.1% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to W.W. Grainger and Alamo Group as they could maintain their solid performance.


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