For those looking to find strong Aerospace stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Lockheed Martin (LMT Quick QuoteLMT - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Lockheed Martin is a member of the Aerospace sector. This group includes 34 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #1. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. LMT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LMT's full-year earnings has moved 3.44% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, LMT has moved about 42.25% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of 26.37% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Lockheed Martin is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Breaking things down more, LMT is a member of the Aerospace - Defense industry, which includes 12 individual companies and currently sits at #68 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 21.94% this year, meaning that LMT is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

LMT will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.