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Are Transportation Stocks Lagging American Airlines (AAL) 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. Is American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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 131 different companies and currently sits at #12 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 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. American Airlines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAL's full-year earnings has moved 28.1% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, AAL has gained about 23.9% so far this year. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of 13%. This means that American Airlines is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Transportation stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Air Canada (ACDVF - Free Report) . The stock is up 16.9% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Air Canada's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 44.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, American Airlines belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry, which includes 30 individual stocks and currently sits at #54 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 21.2% so far this year, so AAL is performing better in this area. Air Canada is also part of the same industry.

American Airlines and Air Canada could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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